How to Train a Marauder
by JV ft Marauders
Summary: Lily Evans and Jane Mackenzie are best friends who are bullied for their looks by the infamous Marauders, until their OTHER best friend Alice Prewett decides to give them a makeover that will change their lives forever.
1. Chapter 1

_This story is dedicated to my good friend and co-author, Prongs. xoxo_

_I want to warn beforehand there is **A LOT** of horrible things that happen to the girls in this story. In **NO WAY** do I (and co-author Prongs) mean to demean or enforce the behavior toward the characters (who belong solely to JK Rowling), nor do I want them to be abused the way they are in the story. It is unacceptable the way they are treated and described, however, a crucial part of the story and I apologize for any strong feelings I get from this because if anything, I'd feel the same way. Thank you for reading._

_~Moony_

* * *

**PART ONE: YEAR ONE**

* * *

**One week before End of Fifth Year**

_We start the scene with Lily Evans walking into Transfiguration, hands bulging full of books and sweat gleaming on her red and puffy face. Panting like she had been running across the castle (which was not entirely false), she finally makes her way to her seat, a sigh of relief escaping her lips as she makes to sit down._

_Too late._

_James Matthew Potter stuck a single flawless foot out and Lily, caught up in her rush to get to her seat, stumbles and falls over face-first, the train-wreck of a collapse moving in slow-motion, onto the floor below her. Jane Anne Mackenzie watches in horror, as her best friend and fellow Gryffindor classmate hits the floor with a loud "whoosh" while books and parchment tumbles out of her hands and onto the floor._

_Maybe its about time for an explanation. Rewind, please._

* * *

Okay, heres the lowdown. Let's start with Lily Marie Evans shall we?

Stubby little Marie Evans here is ugly. She is really, really ugly. If she were to be compared to a magical creature, it most definitely be a troll. If she were to be compared to a muggle creature, she'd be the stereotypical "ugly betty". Her face was crusty and was lined all over with pock-marks, scratches, red and irritated bumps and acne that oozed all along the hairline and her forehead. Like a dermatologist's mountainous nightmare from hell. Some say the moon is beautiful, but the craters on Marie Evans face is just plain ghastly! Seriously ghastly. Now what about the bulging fat and greasy clumps of red frizzy hair tangled in a nest on the top of her head? Getting to that. Right, so maybe she doesn't "work out" or go on mind-boggling magical diets but seriously-this girl is the queen of the yellow stuff. Flabby skin is her forte. When she walks, its like watching 200 pounds of glorious jello bouncing up and down. What a pretty sight. There used to hips, but now it's all layers, like the filling of a cheesecake. She would know right? It's not like she eats any of the good stuff to understand what something not-sweet would taste like. Huh... Enough of that. Let's see...we've got that, that, and that. Oh right! The really bad stuff: her nose and teeth. Yellowing, misshapen, and hideous. Some say its just another hole with which to feed herself with. You know what else other people say? All the ugly must be getting to her brains, but its those big round glasses that make her look more like a clown that gives her special sight so that she's smarter than she actually is. Those big round glasses that hide bright evergreen eyes are so smudged and cracked in one lense that its a surprise she can even see out of them. Nasty little booger, Marie Evans is. Don't get in her way.

The only ones dumb enough to do that and commit social suicide are her friends Jane and Alice. Jane Anne Mackenzie is a Gryffindor, just like Lily, and the two of them are rather brilliant witches. Gifted at Transfiguration and Potions, (She's one of Slughorn's favorites) Lily meets her match with Jane-who happens to be a herbology know-it-all. It's not the only thing they're matched in; Jane's also ugly as hell, replace the frizzy red-hair, green eyes with shoulder-length blonde hair and violet colored eyes (no glasses) and you've got one "Jane Anne Mackenzie: eternal loser". Plus, she's not much better off in the "getting bullied" department than Lily. The poor duo must face opposition everyday since they walked through the doors of Hogwarts, and it hasn't lessened one bit since that day. The Marauders didn't make it easy one bit; but we'll get to that. However, she still remains die-hard loyal to Lily and the two are inseparable. Alice Prewett on the other hand, is a goddess. It's not an exaggeration, too. Waist-length brown hair and chocolate brown eyes, Alice was the one person who managed to stick with the losers and not become a loser herself. Just goes to show how delicate the social hierarchy is when you're rich, pureblood, and beautiful. Especially when you've caught the eye of Frank Longbottom.

Finally, the moment you all have been waiting for. The second coming of Jesus Christ, the parting in the clouds, the chorus of singing angels: The Marauders. James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail. Don't ask.

Okay so maybe there isn't a chorus of singing angels upon any utterance of their presence but its pretty damn close. Let's be honest here: they are drop-dead gorgeous. If God made people on purpose, he definitely was having a good day when he sent down James Matthew Potter and Sirius Orion Black upon the Wizarding World. Let's start with James Potter.

James Matthew Potter. Jeez, where to begin? There's too much to say, so lets just list it off in incomplete sentences (why bother when James is practically indescribable as he is?!) Extremely good-looking hunk. Wears dorky glasses that make him look even hotter. Quidditch chaser for the Gryffindor house, greatest in Hogwarts history. There's always that glint of mischief in his eyes. Ohhh, soft hazel colored irises. Chiseled features. His signature cocky grin. 6'1''. Filthy rich. Pureblood. Ringleader of the Marauders. Your stereotypical "jock", with the smug sense of self-entitlement, gorgeous girlfriend to boot (That would be Darcy Chester, we'll be getting to her soon enough) and pack of thugs right behind him (That would be the Marauders) to egg him on in the stereotypical jock crusade to rid the world of lesser men (and women, of course). Fantastic in Transfiguration and Defense against the Dark Arts. Nickname? Prongs. Sticks to his mates like gum against desk.

Sirius Orion Black is THE hottest boy ever. Piercing, stormy grey eyes. Lean and muscled. 6'3''. Elegant hair also known as "God's gift" but we all know he has more gifts than just that. Co-ringleader of the Marauders. Even has an entire fanclub dedicated in his honor. Has the hots for Charlotte Dawson, doe-eyed blondie with crisp blue-eyes in Hufflepuff. A "Class A arse" and a serious womanizer. Serious, heh, get it?! No but really, anyone who can hook up with 99% of the upperclassmen female population is going to be called "Sirius Black". There's just no one who could woo the world with just the snap of his fingers and a kiss blown in your direction. Brilliant in whatever James is good at. Lives with the Potters. Absolutely inseparable from James.

So. You have the details. Now its time to add up two and two and see the real story behind all this. Look closely reader, because sometimes, it takes a little effort to get behind the smudgy glasses and cocky exterior. But once you do, something great is bound to happen.

* * *

"_Watch it Evans, we don't want you to hurt yourself getting wayyy over there by your desk." James squinted and pointed to the seat in front of him, guffawing when he saw Lily pick herself up with a defiant scowl and gathering her scattered notes._

"_Oh my, will you look who it is? The pompous git who thinks he's all that because he can play pranks and ride a broom. Well guess what? You're just a coward who can't stand for anything worthwhile. Why don't you grow a pair and lay off Potter!" Lily countered furiously in a sharp-as-knife tone that had the whole class ohhhh-ing. Well, everyone but Darcy Chester._

Oh, yes. Darcy Chester. You've never seen the epitome of "pureblood" until you've met her. She's so posh she makes muggle-infested Paris, France look like the dump. Raven-black hair, in smooth waves to her shoulder, cat-like icy blue eyes, sly smirk and a figure that graceful like a ballerina but strong as an ox, Darcy Chester, of the well-known and definitely well-off Chester family is like meeting a superstar and wondering what in god's name she had to be born with to be so flawless. Like her bloodline before her, she radiates power and control, along with boundless wit and knowledge, so its no wonder Darcy is a Ravenclaw. If it weren't for her bitchy behavior that just screams "_Oi, I seek attention!"_ then maybe she wouldn't be half that bad of a person. Heh, well fuck that. She's a bitch. B-I-T-C-H. The Queen Bitch. Oh yeah, she's also dating James Potter.

"_Maybe we wouldn't be so haarrrshhh on you, Miss Evans," Darcy's willowy female voice curled in the air and practically buzzed in Lily's ears, making steam rise from her nostrils in fury,_

"_...if you weren't such a clumsy little fool. Ladies aren't supposed to be so unattentive to their bodies and grotesquely overweight in addition, it's a dirty stain on society. But that must not apply to a filthy Mudblood like yourself." _

Silence.

Whispers carried through the classroom and worried glances at the door to see if Professor Minerva McGonagall ("_Minnie!" James exclaimed proudly, like a grandson to a beloved grandmother_) would come in and see the obvious bullfight about to erupt or end up oblivious to the rising tensions like she always did. At least, when it came to the lovely banter between Miss Evans and Mr. Potter, it wouldn't be that bad.

Wrong.

_Lily fumed, snapping back harshly: "Go fuck off with your high horse, Darcy, no one cares what that overrated posh arse of yours thinks!" but while the class awaited anxiously for the bitch-slaps to fly, James curled into Darcy ( "I care what your posh arse thinks…all the time...") and they smooched, noses touching and they giggled to each other with faces inches away, and the class aww-ed in favor of focusing on the fat girl in the corner. Her friend, Jane, was looking more than a little nervous about a certain Mr. Black that was bound to have a stab at her guts to disembowel her before the class was over._

"_Let's not forget Miss Mackenzie here getting all lonely without her 50 trillion chocolate frogs to comfort her." The class erupted once again and Sirius Black tossed his head back, glorious hair flying and a pitch-perfect laugh rolling from his mouth. "And Alice Prewett, what are you doing here with thing 1 and thing 2 when you could be chilling with us, the 'cool kids?'" Alice froze in her seat, and with a mighty growl hexed the two prats brave enough to question her choice to stick with her friends. ("Largest and stupidest bunch of wankers I'd ever seen, thats for sure.")_

"_Git. Stop all this nonsense now and grow up already!" Jane hissed under her breath, before more rounds of verbal abuse were slung every which way, like the opening to a horror film._

"_Not enough makeup in the WORLD will be able to cover up her face!" ("Enough, stop it, stop this now!" Remus Lupin interjected) and _

"_Cover up her face? Even that muggle 'plastic surgery' can't repair the damages. Much less the traumatic damage of looking at it," ("Oh shut it, Remus, we're just having a bit of FUN here, right lads?" A chorus of "AYES" resoundingly) and _

"_She must be half-troll" ("YEAH" from Pettigrew in the back) and _

"_No, she's FULL troll. Just look at all those lumps and oozing skin! Bleck! Like a human toad." ("YEAH" from Pettigrew in the back) and _

"_Even the blind would know a troll from a human-it's the jiggling fat and odious smell that gives it away!" ("YEAH" from Pettigrew in the back) and _

"_It's a wonder they really haven't died from being so ugly…" ("YEAH" from Pettigrew in the back) and _

"_Yeah, heart attacks and shit should've ended them long before they were born!" ("YEAH" from Pettigrew in the back) and "Their mothers should've gotten abortions, what hideous children. Shameful!" ("YEAH" from...okay you get the point) and _

"_I bet they had fucking ugly parents, too. Mudbloods. Ugh." and _

"_Reckon they're bumfuck poor to be so ugly, money always saves God's mistakes…" and more, more more._

_**Talking as if they weren't there, as if they didn't exist.**_

"_Germs cause ugliness, and ugliness causes death."_

_Charlotte's nasally but assured comment sent the room back down into the gutters of silence and savagery._

_That is, until Sirius smacked lips with Charlotte and all hell broke loose, couples, (namely Sirius and Charlotte) immediately started "eating each other's faces off," more laughter could be heard, clapping and whistling and hexes flying in all hopeless directions and papers were thrown in the direction of Jane and Lily, chants of "Go to hell! Go to hell!" could be heard echoing down the halls and across the castle. _

"_Excuse me!" _

_Party's over._

_Professor McGonagall looked appalled at the classroom, students stumbling back into their seats and the couples who were making out unlatching themselves and fixing their hair and clothes hurriedly. "What outrageous monstrosity has unfolded in my classroom! BLACK, release yourself from MISS DAWSON IMMEDIATELY! 5 points from Gryffindor, and ("But Minnie!") 5 MORE points from Gryffindor for Potter's obscene and EXTREMELY uncalled for outbursts and frankly abhorring self-control. Get yourself together young men, the year may be over but we have work to DO! Now, everyone, please take your seats. Evans, your arithmancy book is on the floor."_

* * *

**Last day of Fifth Year**

"This is it, girls. Last day of seeing the Marauders ever fucking again for the next month. Cheers."

Alice, Jane and Lily lifted their treacle tarts in the air and laughed joyously, each of them taking a long, luxurious bite out them and hmm-ing in harmony. This was their last final hurrah, their last "fuck you" to the insufferable bastards that made their lives hell for the majority of their Hogwarts career.

"I swear to god, after this summer I'm going to see you guys and it's going to be like watching two film stars walking out on the red fucking carpet. That is, if you suggest I make you guys over…" The suggestion was practically a command from Alice Prewett, her lashes fluttering in the way she usually did when she wanted something. Badly.

"Nuh-uh." Jane was chewing and shaking her head furiously. "Theres no way in hell we're going to be having makeovers over the summer. Parents won't DARE let me." For extra emphasis, she looked to Lily, who already knew the dire living situation Jane lived in. It always came as a surprise how wholeheartedly warm and sweet and strong Jane was even when her muggle life was about as depressing as it could get. Abusive parents, horrible arse of a father who hit her every chance he could get, and sometimes Lily just watched helpless as her friend crumbled under both the pressure of keeping herself in high spirits and fighting the constant verbal abuse at school.

"Agreed. Sorry, Alice, but Jane and I are going to Diagon Alley sometime before school starts. To get some...shopping done. Plus, when will you find the time to make us over when you've got to go to goddamn fucking ITALY with lovely Mr. Frank Longbottom whom you love so much while we two lazy arses have to keep on our toes for next year's courses? No, it'll just have to be us and our boring lives. Have fun Alice. I hope I get a marriage invitation by the end of the summer at least, so then that'll give you an excuse to make us over."

Alice's mouth dropped open, her eyes wide in surprise that Lily knew who she fancied so quickly. Well, it wasn't like it was a secret or anything; to be honest, a complete juvenile like that brainless berk Potter could see Alice loved handsome fellow Gryffindor Frank Longbottom dearly, and him returning the feelings just as genuinely. Frank was nice, compassionate, with light brown hair and warm brown eyes that seemed to follow Alice everywhere she went. Although it seemed the two themselves were absolutely oblivious. Poor fools, love makes everyone. Plus, the two were perfect for each other. They were both gorgeous, pureblood, in love, and happy. Who wouldn't want more from them. Apparently, Alice wasn't about to give up on spreading the love bug to her friends.

"I absolutely refuse! If you think, Lily Evans, that you can get off spick and span from telling me you'll be 'studying' and that bullshit then you are a fool. You know what? For kicks and shit, since you DEMAND to be so boring, I'm hooking you up with that handsome gentleman named Declan Parish whether you want to or not. Don't lie to me, you know deep down you want to snog him so bad. Oh my god, I can see it in your eyes right now. YES, holy shit, you DO fancy that Ravenclaw Quidditch captain, it's so clear to me now, Lily Evans are you blushing?! Jesus, it was just a fucking joke, but REALLY?! Fucking hell, Evans, what the fuck right now?! Oh shit. Never mind, you are too easy to read. It's like stealing candy from a baby. I'll be going to Frank's table now. Goodbyeee~~" Alice got up, bending her fingers forward in a "I'm a bitch" wave before sashaying her way to Frank's table.

The more Alice talked, the more swears managed to leak from her usually quiet and composed self that few people got to know. 100% of whom were Jane and Lily. As she spoke, the secret truth of her naive little crush coming like a punch out of thin air, Lily's face had drained of all color and just as quickly rushed back with a violence comparable to a tsunami of blood to her fat, chipmunk cheeks. Tart crumbs hung from the side of her lips and she licked them away nervously, sweat leaking down her forehead. Okay, so maybe she liked Declan Parish, that deliciously melt-in-your mouth hot bastard who was real competition to James fucking Potter when it came to Quidditch. He had the dashing blond hair, bright blue eyes, wonderful build and charming voice of a fucking knight. He was also smart, and a complete and utter pisspot. At least that, in Lily's book, meant he was going to be forever unattainable and a jerk.

"Wrong." Jane interjected kindly, to no one in particular, on behave of Lily's response in Alice's direction, which was guaranteed to have been scathing, "Remember, Lily, you told me Severus Snape had the HUGEST crush on you. You two were literally joined at the hip when you guys were younger! Even lasted SO long too! Before we even came to Hogwarts you and him were familiar acquaintances. It was so cute, and heart-warming, Severus like a whole new being, better, when you was around. You two made each other better people. He never judged you for your looks, unlike almost everyone else. It's such a shame though. He," Jane had leaned away from Lily, her face melancholy from the memories as the most troubling part of the story was about to unfold, "he was doing fine, and I swore he was going to ask you out after a while, once he got the courage up, but he was sorted into Slytherin, and suddenly, he drifted off. Then once in Potions class he suddenly went off, calling you a filthy Mudblood, just like Darcy. It was, disgusting, how easily he-"

"HE AND EVANS COULD BE AS A COUPLE!" James Potter smoothly inserted himself, making Jane yelp and Sirius double-over laughing, Alice too far away to hex them this time around. "I mean Snivellus and Lily, two most ugliest people in the castle, a couple?! They would be perfect for each other right?" his smug voice carried over to a few of the neighboring chatter and they laughed riotously.

Lily flew from her seat, wand outstretched and a terrible scowl on her face. "You shut it about Severus, James Potter, do you hear? Don't bring him into something you aren't willing to finish, like the coward you'll always be." Her voice was deadly, and James's face fell in disappointment and shame. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his neck and apologized. Lily was absolutely stunned! The dramatic shift in emotion threw her completely off balance.

"Hey, I was just joking, Evans. Um...Actually, I was just going to ask you something, before I eavesdropped." He looked away and Lily saw that his face was glowing dark red. "Um...uh I was wondering...if maybe, you know, you'd want to...say, I don't know, come over...to the Potter Manor over the summer?" He barely got the words out without looking like a stuttering, embarrassed mess. It was almost endearing. Lily raised one skeptical eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest.

"Why, exactly?"

"To apologize for being an arse."

"You'll need to do FAR more than just invite me someplace over the summer, git."

"I said I'm sorry Lily!" He looked exasperated and genuinely upset about himself. "I really am. About everything, I don't know, it's just that I can't explain myself very easily and I've always been kind of jealous of how smart you are. I was being stupid, trying to pick on others for my own pride, like you said. Just...could we start over? I swear I've changed for the better. Let me prove it to you." He looked up and Lily's face softened. He was wearing a guilty expression that was somber, serious and deeply regretful. Maybe he wasn't joking this time around. Was he?

After a few moment of tentative silence and hesitant looks exchanged between Jane, Lily and James, she finally spoke up, quiet and not-quite sure of herself.

"I swear to god Potter if this is another one of your pathetic attempts at a prank I WILL bury you alive."

"Is that a yes? Does that mean you'll come?" Eagerness seeped through his voice.

"If it means that your girlfriend, that pompous bitch Darcy isn't coming, then yes, I suppose so. It's not a promise though." Lily looked incredibly suspicious. When James's face finally lit up in excitement, Lily thought she had made the right choice about being cautious. Then…

James cracked up, Jane groaning in a "I-knew-it" way and Lily looking hideously betrayed. James continued laughing quietly, doubling over, and then turned to Sirius and the Marauding crew behind him, mirth hidden in his eyes.

"YOU WON'T BELIEVE IT!" he laughed, "LILY ENGORGIO EVANS JUST TOLD ME SHE'D GO OUT WITH ME! MERLIN'S BEARD, I CAN'T BREATHE! DID NEARLY-HEADLESS NICK JUST PULL MY LEG OR AM I DYING FROM TOO MUCH BULLSHIT?! BLIMEY!" James had turned nearly purple in his breathless laughter, the Marauder's bursting out in the giggles and Lily still stunned into silence. She was steadily coming to though, and once she did there was no turning back from her imminent wrath.

"Farewell!" James waved a dramatic hand in the air above him, falling back into Sirius's arms, "I've laughed myself an early grave! It's been a good run, lads, a bloody good run, but the fun show's over. I've reached the climax of my pranking career, everything else that happens to me has gone to shit in comparison to this day. Au revoir, mon ami Sirius, hasta lavista senorita Evans, I would've never made it here without you two by my side."

Lily smiled dangerously, her eyes slitting into nothing as she tried to control her anger enough to not throw an Unforgivable in Potter's direction.

"You know, Evans," James spoke in a nostalgic voice that positively grated on Lily's nerves, " I understand it must be hard not being with a gorgeous hunk like me all the time, but can you be the least bit realistic? Since when did you ever have a chance with me? I'm far and above out of your league and always will be." Pettigrew's eye's widened and he pointed, mouthing "THAT RHYMES!" to no one in particular.

"You." Lily took a breath to steady herself, as her voice came out as a low growl, "are the biggest, most infuriating, most idiotic, simple-minded, savage and indecent piece of SHIT," she took another breath "that I have EVER had the courtesy to meet. Goodbye, Mr. Potter. I hope you enjoyed making yourself off as the castle fool today, and every day, that you are."

James scoffed, and quickly changed the subject back to what he had been saying before-

"Ohhh...Poor Lily Evans has a big fat crush on greasy-haired Snivellus, and since when did you fancy rat-faced Slytherins, huh Evans? Since you were misplaced in Gryffindor? The sorting hat must've taken pity on you, since you obviously needed the company. Too bad you only have jelly-butt Jane to follow you around!" Sirius snorted, and James slapped his knee in glee, the sound of the two boys' snickers radiating through the Great Hall.

Lily practically vibrated with trembling fury, until she noticed Jane hesitantly inching away from the scene, trying to hide her face from the few pairs of eyes trained her way and whispering under their breaths. Lily look concerned, and then she knew why.

"Jelly-butt Jane, she has an abusive father, maybe that's why she's so desperate to find friends! I bet your daddy hates looking at you so much he'd rather beat you to death than look at that face every day. Hogwarts must've been a dream come true for the daughter he thought would've failed him, and better yet, he wouldn't have to face looking at his 'mistake' each and every day, what a joke! These are what muggles do, James, and now that I think about it, she must've inherited the filth from her father. Just wait until she grows up! No one would get together with that fat-lipped frog like her. You know how I know all this, James, it's because she kept a DIARY! Hah, left it in Potions class once and I hate being a snitch but the entries were sooo dark, 'my papa hits me', 'I feel so alone', 'Why do I have to be so useless' and blah-blah-blah. I would've thought it belonged to some barmy Hufflepuff but a GRYFFINDOR?! Much less Jane Mackenzie?! My oh my, I cried laughing that night, what comedic gold!" James burst into a fresh bout of laughter, and Sirius nodded, winking at a few girls who were swooning at his feet. Jane looked about ready to throw up, she was so pale.

"Oh god!" Lily exclaimed quietly to herself, a hand flying to her open mouth as Sirius's words sunk in. Jane's lower lip quivered as more people laughed and pointed in her direction, tears springing into her eyes and her hands gripped tightly in fists. She was going to blow.

"No wait! Stop it! You're hurting her feelings! Don't you know how disgusting you both are, going around talking about people like you're above them!? Why don't you both just go to hell for once, you ignorant arseholes and get a life!" Lily sprang from her seat stepping right up to James and Sirius, both backing away and waving their hands and going "Aye, Evans, we're not looking for a fight here," and laughing mischievously. Jane had quietly left the hall, hurriedly wiping at her eyes and sniffling. Lily ran after her, the two boys still laughing even as the students were getting ready to leave to their dormitories, ready to go home and relax.

* * *

"Oh god, my summer is completely ruined!"

Jane had tears running down her face, small hiccups making her sniff loudly, her nose drip and a box of tissues were already half-used up next her to her on their compartment on the Hogwarts express. Lily patted Jane's hand gently and reminded her of all the stupid things the Marauder's had done the previous years and how this time, she was perfectly right with being mad at them. Alice was hugging Jane, telling her that it was alright to cry and she was there for her, never judging. She still didn't know what Sirius had said, but from Jane's reaction, it was bad, and that was all she needed to know. "I wish I could've hexed them every chance I got, fucking bastards."

"I'm sorry...I'm such...a loser...ugh" She wiped away her tears and laughed, "but I'm going to be okay. As long as you two understand, a little bad-mouthing from Sirius won't get me down. He's the worst, isn't he?"

Lily beamed and hugged Jane, fresh tears in her eyes at being embraced but on the inside still aching with the memories of Black talking about her father to practically the whole Great Hall. Lily pulled away and handed her a piece of parchment, written in neat, looping letters.

"It's my new address. My parents got promoted so we're relocating closer to London and right there is my new number, if you need to call me. Stupid phone company won't let us keep the old number, but that's alright. Text me if things get out of hand, alright?" She closed Jane's hand around the parchment and Jane nodded, smiling and grinning her huge yellowing teeth at Lily who smiled right back. The rest of the train ride was spent in silence, Jane having fallen asleep after Alice left yet again to Frank's compartment, this time for good.

"Don't do anything you'll regret in there, you hear Prewett?!" Lily called down the aisle to Alice, and she flipped the finger back. Bitch.

Closing the door behind her, she adjusted the blanket on Jane and went back to reading "An Exploration of Explosive Spells" by Edmund Higgins, for fun.

Pretty soon, the journey home was over and as the train pulled into the station families waved and ran after the compartments their children were in, steam blowing out and the hoot of the horn signalling the return to Platform 9 ¾.

Alice had returned to get her luggage, helping Jane up from her sleep and with her luggage while Lily was quick at work to lug her suitcases out before the rush truly set in. She could see her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Evans, both fiery ginger, simple civilian clothing, waving and hurrying to help Lily off the train. Behind them was Alice's mother, Mrs. Prewett, and Mr. Longbottom, who was dressed immaculately in a 3-piece suit, a hat adorning his bald head and a moustache above his lips, while Mrs. Prewett wore a nude-colored dress, heels and a flash of bright red lipstick. Her hair fell in blond ringlets down to her shoulder and she beamed, stretching her hands wide in a hug and Alice ran forward and spun with the power of their hug. Lily laughed, her father's hand on her shoulder. Frank blushed and coughed, walking over to his father who patted him on the back and took the luggage from his son's hands.

"Off one train, onto another boring flight to Rome. What a dreary concept." Alice groaned and Lily rolled her eyes, mouthing "Please…" which only made the two laugh and slap each other's arm's, calling each other ridiculous and absolutely insane.

"I hope you like riding with Frank, he seems to be quite keen to get on a plane with you!"

"Oh shut up Evans!"

"Alice! Mind your mouth!"

"Sorry mother…"

"Lily, did you get everything?"

"Yes, mother."

"Are you sure?"

"YES!"

"Okay, just checking."

"Where's Petunia?"

"At home."

"Okay."

"Come on, Alice, we're going to be late for our flight!"

"Okay coming! Ugh! Write to me Evans, or I swear to god…!"

"Right, bye! Have fun!"

They parted ways, laughing and waving back at each other even as Lily watched as Alice disappeared amongst the crowd of people. Only then did she start in realization that Jane was practically unseen and unheard from during their departing.

"Oh god, mum, where is Jane?"

"She left, darling, just now when you were talking to Alice… stood with her father."

"Is something wrong, Lily? Did she forget something on the train?"

"No, no, no, nothing like that. Is she alright?"

"Why wouldn't she be? Lily you're worrying me."

"It's...it's nothing I guess. Sorry I brought it up. I just wanted to say goodbye."

"Maybe she was in a hurry and couldn't see you. Happens all the time."

"Yeah. I guess she could always call me."

"Absolutely. You gave her our number, yes?"

"Yes, dad. Okay, let's go."

But deep down, Lily felt a discomforting gnawing in her gut. _Please be safe, Jane._

* * *

**Hey Guys! Thanks for reading and please review :D**

******_Disclaimer__ from Prongs: I__n regards to a review about our demeaning language describing the girls in this story we'd like to say we definitely think everyone is beautiful in their own way, but, in a perfect world no one will judge each other based on looks. However in reality, people **DO** get judged for their looks and we're trying to show change is not a bad thing and self-empowerment is just as important as the beauty on the inside. We want the characters to become more confident about the way they look and feel about themselves even as they are bullied about it. This is not an actual portrayal about how we feel on the subject as the language is strictly part of the story and if you are happy with yourself the way you are, you go! We are not saying you should change for anyone and being the beautiful readers you are is enough to be happy.**_


	2. Chapter 2

****Trigger warnings for parental abuse and strong violence****

Jane gulped heavily as she saw Lily and Alice laughing.

She knew that once all of them were off the train it was would be "happy partings" for her two best and frankly ONLY friends, but it was never the same for her. The minute the platform came into view she felt the familiar wave of dread wash over her, and suddenly everything felt colder and grayer than before.

Once she stepped off the train with her luggage she immediately made her way over to her father, a young, skinny brown haired man with a sick twisted smile on his face. Every step closer toward him was like a step closer to death. The sound of laughter in the crowd vanished as she looked up at him, his hand coming down in slow motion onto her shoulder, gently, pushing her in the direction of the exit.

Once they were out on the street Jane looked back helplessly, maybe hoping to catch a glimpse of Lily as she departed or Alice or hell even one of those stupid, horrible Marauders, anything to escape the steady breathlessness she felt as those hands on her back clamped harshly on her shoulders, never once helping her hold the luggage in her hands. Their car came into view, and with that sign, her father's apparently jovial personality slipped for a split second.

"Put the luggage in the boot and then get the fuck into the car." He was angry.

The thing with Jane's father was that he was always varying shades of angry. Never happy, never even bored, not even for one moment, and especially never not angry when Jane was around. He was just so ANGRY, all the time, and it hurt Jane more than when he hit her, more than when he said she was an ugly slut or a worthless whore or a fat piece of trash or a brainless disappointment...

"Hey, did you hear me?" His voice was dangerously calm. "Don't stand there for another second or you're done! Go on. You've wasted my time."

"Yes, sir." Her voice caught on the formality and she hurried to put her luggage in the boot, making sure she did it fast and efficiently without a sign of weakness, or else she lost. That was how these games played out with her father. The more her hands shook, the more she showed anything less than plain obedience in the face of his endless wrath, the more he would make her life hell. As if it wasn't already. In response, he scoffed and cracked his knuckles.

"Brilliant." He opened the car door and slammed it shut, making her flinch, as she closed the boot door and then sat herself down in the passenger seat. Silence.

It wasn't the normal type of silence. It was a tense, heavy silence, and then her father reached over and planted a firm slap to Jane's face, before starting the car and cursing quietly under his breath.

"You make me wait almost half the day at that damned train station and then I see your blasted friends chattering about with their mindless nonsense along with their petty parents looking proud and mighty as if they have accomplished something in life. If anything, I'm the one who should be congratulated for putting up with your shit for god knows how long. About time I sent you away for good. Too tired for this." Jane rubbed her stinging cheek and tried to focus on the cars outside, on the happy people laughing in cafés, on meeting Lily and smiling and forgetting...forgetting about everything wrong.

"I hoped you would finally do something about yourself at that wizards school or some bullshit and instead you make friends with those hooligans and god-knows what you've done at that school. Probably hiding away in some corner while you've tried to go unseen. Too embarrassed hm? To have a dad like me? Then they don't know anything. I'm the best thing that ever happened to you Jane."

It was the same spiel every year, every single time in the same fucking car breathing the same musty air with his words like hands ripping at her heart: cold and honest; twisting and grotesque. She tried to think of something else desperately to make herself feel better, but it all came down to those little words that someone had said not long ago,

"_Jelly-butt Jane, she has an abusive father, maybe that's why __**she's so desperate to find friends**__! I bet your daddy hates looking at you so much he'd rather __**beat you to death**_ _than look at that face every day. Hogwarts must've been a dream come true for the daughter he thought __**would've failed him**__, and better yet, he wouldn't have to face looking at his '__**mistake**_' _each and every day, what a joke! These are what muggles do, James, and now that I think about it, she must've __**inherited the filth from her father**__."_

"You need to get yourself together young lady. No man would ever look twice at you if you keep it up like this every year. It's like my words only manage to go in one ear and out the other. Still a no-good helpless little child after so many years. You disappoint me. I should have always expected as much. You and your mother. It's at least my hard work that has shaped you up. If I had left you on your own, penniless and uneducated as you are, then you'd be dead in less than five seconds. The reason I hit you is not for myself, Jane. I do it to protect you. I don't ever want to hurt you."

Lies. So many lies but they hurt because he was still her father and he couldn't, wouldn't be so monstrous if it weren't for her shortfalls, shortfalls that made her the abandoned little girl with no one to turn to. She needed to be better.

_I need to be fixed. _

Jane looked down at her hands where the crumpled piece of paper with Lily's number lay forgotten and she fisted it violently in her chubby hands, feeling calm as she pushed away the overwhelming flood of tears to her eyes. The ache in her heart subsided to numbness. She could be cold. She could feel nothing. She could be brave. She could win this game.

_He's right. No one understands. I'm just fooling myself thinking I could ever be something good to anyone. I'm just a waste of space._

_"_Am I understood Jane?"

All those years he had taken away had meant something. She couldn't play with friends, couldn't watch television, couldn't escape her dad's furious eyes when she made a mistake and cried about it. She was always so angry.

_**inherited the filth from her father**_

"Yes papa. I understand."

"Tch." He scoffed. "Wash up. You smell like shit."

* * *

_I'll spare you the gritty details_

_Jane underwent a harsh change. Her father started giving her less food, and the weight steadily dropped down to something reasonably healthy. He constantly nagged her about her acne until she visited a muggle dermatologist, too shy to use magic to help, and soon the acne left her. Amazingly, she even gained a few inches, making her taller and slimmer. Suddenly, she looked okay. Not okay, but __good _ _And somehow, that meant she was unhappy. For her father being right._

* * *

**One Month Later**

She stood in the spray of the shower, knuckles white and tears running down her face.

It was a short one, interrupted periodically by choked back sobs and held back screams as she furiously rubbed away at her skin, and, skinny and flawless and pimple-free, and her life and her father all in one bundle of HATE, so feral she almost dug her nails into her scalp trying not to hyperventilate from the lack of air, losing herself in her anger.

"Fucking get out of there or you're not getting dinner.

She growled and turned off the shower, allowing herself a second of composure before she ripped the towel of one of the towel racks and wrapped herself up, not daring to spare a glance at the mirror (she was taller than before school) before hurriedly putting on some clothes and moving into the dining room.

The wafting aroma of food made her stomach growl. But in her way was her father, face blank as a sheet as he cut up a piece of roasted chicken and a sautéed green bean into his mouth, chewing thoughtfully. The table was empty, and so was the kitchen. It was only him and his one plate of food. She looked at him.

"Garbage."

She looked and looked and looked, trying to understand. Was he talking about the food or her or...

She nodded slowly and turned back toward her room, passing the garbage bin in the hall on the way out. She could practically hear him smile all the way from in her room. Once she had sat down on her bed and tried to do schoolwork he stormed in without warning and slammed her skull into the wall.

Her head spun, out of shock and out of pain, while her father planted another punch to her face, a kick to her back, a hand to her throat. She gasped and tried to pry his hand away but he was out of it, completely. He gripped her shoulder and spun her onto a table, smashing her wrists down above her head and growling low into her ear.

"Spoiled brat."

Jane needed her wand. She needed to get away.

"You do EXACTLY WHAT I **TELL YOU TO DO, DO YOU HEAR?"**

He was drunk. She could smell the alcohol heavy on his breath, in his dark laughter.

"I wanted fucking starve you." He giggled joyously. "You'd lose weight and you would be sooo pretty, so pretty just like your mum, just like your godforsaken slut of a..." He broke off into a coughing fit, then smashed his face against hers so that Jane's head hit the table hard. She screamed, throwing him off so that he collided with her bedside table, the lamp wobbling and falling into shatters to the floor. His nose bled and he blearily looked up at her. His eyes were dark.

"And you look so good now thanks to me! I left food for you! I thought you could LISTEN FOR ONCE IN YOUR LIFE AND JUST BE THE PERFECT LITTLE **RUNT YOU ARE! BUT YOU WENT AGAINST ME! YOU WENT AGAINST MY WORD, YOU BITCH!"**

Jane stood frozen in place, so terrified out of her mind she didn't see the shard of broken lamp collide with her arm until she felt the hot wave of pain and she ran, out of the room and into the darkness of the hall, her father's maniacal laughter and echoing footsteps like the perfect horror film brought to life. She held her bleeding arm in her hand and stumbled, crying out as she missed a step on the stairs and was sent flying face first onto the floor.

She got up, shakily, and ran straight into the door of one of their downstairs bathrooms. She hurried inside, catching a nightmarish glimpse of her father coming toward the door and slammed it shut, locking it with sweaty fingers and she slipped to the floor, weeping uncontrollably. Jane could hear her father screaming and smashing chairs against the door, the terrifying force of his voice making her sick to her stomach. She crawled to the toilet and promptly threw up.

* * *

About 2 in the morning, she woke up with a start. The arm that was cut up and bleeding had dried to a smelly, black mess. It stank of iron and sweat.

Jane whined in pain and got up, a wave of nausea hitting her and her heart thumping fast in her chest. She had dried tear paths on her cheeks and her eyes were black, both of them, bruises having formed when she had passed out.

The only thing more terrifying than the fact she was covered in her own vomit, blood, and tears was the fresh memories of her father practically beating her into oblivion and the silence just outside the door. She breathed unsteadily for a few seconds before pressing her ear to the door and waiting.

Nothing.

She looked under the slit of the door.

Nothing.

Finally she turned the knob and opened up the door a tiny crack.

Darkness.

She flung it open, bracing herself for an attack but getting only darkness, partially illuminated by the bathroom light flooding the dim hallway in her house. Lightning flashed and she winced, followed by a loud clap of thunder.

She bolted for her room.

She didn't stop, didn't think, just ran to her room and shut the door quietly, rummaging for her wand and stuffing clothes into her bulging case and grabbed her phone, the device jumping in her hands a few times before it stopped and she hurriedly typed in the number she unconsciously memorized yesterday and waited impatiently for the few steady beeps to give way to Lily's voice.

"This is Lily Evans speaking, who is this?"

"Lily, it's Jane. I need to leave. I need to stay with you. Please."

Lily was going to respond with a "oh my god Jane of course are you going to be okay?!" When Jane disconnected the call, pocketed the phone and ran downstairs. Her father was passed out on the couch in a pile of wood splinters. Once she was out of the door, at least 5 blocks away from her house, she held a hand to her mouth and sobbed.


	3. Chapter 3

Lily was anxiously chewing on her bottom lip as she waited for Jane to come to her house.

After that phone call there was no telling what could have happened and as much as she loved Jane she was sometimes so frustrated by her lack of asking for help when she needed it. Obviously, she had tried to contact her many times over the last month but it was just frosty silence on the other side of the line. She hadn't seen Jane and Alice and ages and it was about time she had some time with her girls. Getting caught up on school work was definitely fun after maybe the first 5 hours, buuuut…

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she almost missed the light knocking on the front door and she jumped when her mother ran toward it like her life depended on it, gasping and crying when she saw Jane standing sopping wet in the pouring rain, bruised and despondent with her leather luggage case dripping wet.

"Hello Mrs. Evans."

Her voice was quiet, and Lily's mother pressed a hand to her mouth to stop the tears from flowing. She held her arms out and embraced Jane while Lily waited for them to finally get them inside and dry.

"Ohh, Jane. Let's get you inside. Lily! Lily are you-"

"Jane! Oh dear, I'm so sorry! Let's get you cleaned up...Jesus, your arm is bleeding, my god…"

Lily ran forward and hugged Jane tightly, patting her on the back gently and then leading her upstairs to the bathroom. She was shivering and Lily wrapped a towel over her skinny shoulders before looking at the horrible cut on her arm, sitting her down on the closed toilet seat and getting the first-aid kit from the bathroom cabinet. She winced at the deep incision, the skin peeled away and dried blood hardened over the open wound and liquid pooling from the gash as well.

Lily looked conflicted, her wand stowed away in her room if she ever needed it, but healing was not something that came naturally to her and magic could potentially damage Jane more than before. So she applied alcohol to a piece of gauze, rubbing in slow circles and then peeling away the dried blood carefully before getting needle and thread to stitch the wound back. Jane bit her lip, trying to will the pain away as a comfortable silence settled over them. Thunder and rain outside was the only sounds being heard.

"Oh Jane…" Lily began, her voice melancholy, "you should have told me sooner."

Jane looked away and didn't respond. She had meant to call Lily sooner, especially after her dad started steadily starving her and her visit to the dermatologist, but she always felt like she could handle it on her own. No one could possibly understand what she was going through, and she definitely did not want Lily to be hung up on her problems when she had nothing to do with them. However, it looked like it was about time to come clean and bring her up to speed. At least her best friend deserved that.

"Dad, he-he um-well, he was drunk. Tonight" She pointed to her bruised face and smiled shakily. "He...he was giving me less and less food to eat each day. It started a month ago, and since then I've lost basically all of my fat. I guess it should be good for me, but with all the stress and the hate he keeps giving me about my self-image I can't seem to accept myself NOW than I was before. I mean then, I may have been ugly, but now it's like I got here not because of myself but because of my father. He...he doesn't deserve to change who I am. I do. So I went to a dermatologist, and she prescribed these acne meds to help them go down and now I feel a lot better. I got used to the smaller amounts of food and I grew, like, a good 6 inches taller. I looked really good! It's just that, I was so hungry all the time, but I couldn't say anything about it unless I wanted to get punished, " Lily looked deeply concerned and nodded her head in acknowledgment.

"So tonight, he leaves food in the garbage bins and expects me to eat it. I don't know what the HELL is going on, but I refuse because I'm not some kind of…" Jane bites her lip in frustration, "DOG, that can be trained with some stupid mind games. So I leave to my room, without doing anything, and he...well you know, he comes up behind me and hits me, hard, and tells me he wanted to get me skinnier and prettier like my mum, or something, I'm not sure, but he's angry and wants to know why I can't listen to him and fuck before I know it he slashes me with a piece of broken lamp and I run to hide in the bathroom and…"

Jane breaks off on a sob and turns away, Lily shakes her head and hugs her tightly telling her it's all right here, that she has her now, and Jane wipes at her tears and continues, "and when I wake up, I call you and he's passed out on the couch covered in pieces of the dining room chairs he used to try to beat down the bathroom door. Merlin, Lily, I don't know what to do anymore. Is this even real? Am I really so bad that I deserve to be put with this horrible monster of a guy who thinks he can just say those horrible things about me? I don't understand what I did wrong…" Jane sobs, and Lily grasps her tightly, crying almost as hard as Jane is, but she's proud of her for telling her all this and so proud that she was able to put up with all of it alone, even when she wanted her to contact her for help.

"You are BEAUTIFUL Jane, whether or not he tells you that or I tell you that." Lily chokes on the words and Jane smiles, "You are so fucking strong, for leaving him. So. Fucking. Strong. You hear me? So don't you DARE say you did anything wrong, Merlin, you are so stupid sometimes." Lily sniffs and Jane laughs wetly, "And look at you now! You are brave, and gorgeous, and no one can ever judge you because you are far better than they could ever be in a MILLION fucking years-Potter, Black, everyone. They don't deserve to know you like I do. It's been a blessing to have you around and Jane...you are the bestest friend I have ever the courtesy to meet. Besides Alice of course, but sometimes I feel like she doesn't understand us. You however never waver in your loyalty and when you smile it's like my whole day is better just because you're happy and that's all that matters to me. I love you. You can always come to me when you need to vent your problems and I'll know I'll always have you. Pinkie swear it." Lily extended a fat pinkie and Jane nodded furiously, tears streaming heavily on her bruised face and she wrapped her slender pinkie around hers.

Just then, there was a knock at the door and Petunia Evans peeked her head in, arms crossed and her face sour as she observed the two girls look up at her from their positions on the floor, eyes full of tears and hugging tightly. Petunia rolled her eyes and flicked a thumb over her shoulder behind her.

"Alice that freak from school is here. She's gonna 'give you guys a makeover'. Something like that."

* * *

"You two are completely hopeless."

Alice stood by the front entrance, her hands on her hips and her makeup as immaculate as ever. There wasn't a single hair out of place as she lifted the many bags of beauty products (not without the begrudging help of Petunia and excited Mrs. Evans) and for her two best friends, talking over the mindless blabber of Lily and Jane over how her trip was and what did she see, ignoring both of them and going straight to Lily's bedroom to dump the makeup kits, clothing, shoes and her "personal supplies" onto her bed. Lily groaned, her clean room now covered in the remains of a beauty shop explosion. Alice flew past her in a blur to close the bedroom door in Petunia's disgusted face at the sight of so much...stuff.

Turning back to her audience, a slight twirl to the navy blue dress she had on even though it was just raining outside and her waist length brown hair was tied into a loose, Grecian style bun on her head. She was astoundingly more tan than before, but it was London and anyone other than the normal shade of pale was considered tan. There was the gleam in her eyes that meant she was up to something and determined to get it, and that was usually reserved for Frank. Which only meant one thing. Alice + magic = makeover.

"Alice, stooooop. You haven't even greeted us and all you have talked about since getting here, besides how much you loved Rome and Frank Longbottom's glorious face," Alice smiled at the mention if his name, "...is the fact that you are about to give us the makeover you promised us in another life. Haven't you noticed Jane lost like 50 pounds and looks gorgeous already, and I do not need a make-"

Alice placed a perfectly manicured, slender finger against Lily's lips to shut her up and smiled the brightest, fakest smile in existence.

"Oh you poor, lost-in-denial, underappreciated girl, you seriously do not mean to say I spent all this money, time and effort just so I can see my two besties waste away in a life of ostracism when you two could be so much MORE. I mean look at you, Jane! You seriously have changed for the better! But you both need a lot of improving." Jane shrugged and Alice looked away, positively appalled by the lack of enthusiasm in the room.

"Now all I need to do is convince you, Lily, of not being such a stuck up little child, which is relatively easy, and convince your mum for getting a gym membership because this is going to get hard very fast ladies and if you aren't willing to give one hundred and ten percent on this I'm sorry but this isn't going to be for you." There was a little ding in the room, and she whipped out her phone, a slim and stylish device and laughed, typed at the speed of light in response, before pocketing it and taking out her wand instead, facing the crowd. Evil was in her eyes.

"I'll be quick and to the point. First and foremost-"

"Who was that? On the phone?"

"Frank."

"Frank?"

"Yessss...? Who else would it be?"

"Well he's never like...made you laugh over text before."

"Then you haven't been very keen, Evans, not that you ever are."

"Excuse me!" Lily was going to go on a rant now, "...but you just spent weeks with a boy we have only heard of from your point of view in school and now you come back positively glowing, texting and laughing and what's this?!" Lily immediately pointed to the sapphire necklace that Alice adorned proudly, raising an eyebrow in speculation, "Is that a gift from him, too? I know your mother would never let you wear something so expensive unless it was a special occasion, and you would never put it on unless it was a special occasion, so it has to have come from him. And I will bet you 10 quid that it opens up like a locket into a photo of you and him somewhere. Cheesy bastard he is." Alice bit her lower lip and looked toward Jane for help, obviously caught red-handed, but Jane was still trying to catch up to the rapid change in subject.

"FINE!" Alice cracked like a peanut in the hands of a squirrel, "we're dating! Going steady! Going out! We're Together! Hooked up! And I never thought I'd say this but Lily Marie Evans you are a brilliant, observant, wonderful person who notices everything. Happy now?" She did in fact open her locket and yes in fact there was a picture of them together. Right to the very point.

Lily and Jane looked at Alice.

Alice looked at the two of them in turn.

There was silence.

Then, they all broke out laughing.

"You owe her 10 quid." Jane pointed out.

"Merlin, you unworthy but totally lucky girl, you are finally, FINALLY, going out with Frank Longbottom. Every time he was with you I'd thought he'd have an aneurism from how hard he looked at your face like it was the most amazing thing in existence. Took the two of you lifetimes to get here." Jane applauded and Alice blushed, waving it away like it was nothing.

"Oh shut up. We got together in front of the coliseum, nothing spectacularly romantic or anything. We didn't even kiss." She suddenly looked awfully in love though, "He is just...so perfect in every way. He cares about me, he cares...about everything really, he's just so caring and he is fucking beautiful when he smiles at me and tells me lame arse jokes and when he laughs I can't stop smiling and god he is such a secret dork it's just so adorable and he tries so hard to impress me I can't believe him sometimes and ugh he texts me every single day saying stupid sappy shit like I love you and I miss you ...he's perfect in every way. Best boyfriend ever. I just miss him."

Lily aww ed and Jane squealed, Alice looking rather full of herself now.

"But your definition of romantic is him dropping from the sky on the broomstick with a bouquet of charmed roses and that sappy stuff like where you two are stuck in the rain and he gives you his umbrella and you both kiss and angels sing and picnics on the beach in front of a sunset watching the stars and riding a gondola in front of the Eiffel Tower and magic carpet rides. Am I right?" Lily laughed.

"Yes, you are, which is why I am giving you both a makeover and you will love it and you'll fall in love with a handsome, wonderful guy that will match your unrealistically high standards and MY unrealistically high standards and end up married at the same time with me and we will exchange kids and they'll be best friend from fetuses and YOU WILL HAVE THIS MAKEOVER EVANS!" Lily screamed as Alice leaped across the room to tackle her to the ground before she could bolt for it and Jane burst out laughing. "Jane help me get Lily over here."

Jane rolled her eyes.

"How was Rome?"

"Awful. How do you think it went?

"Well what did you see?"

"The usual. Italian architecture. Food. People who gestured too much and yelled. Fountains. Frank. It was splendid."

"I don't think that is the usual."

"Hmm. Jane, are you trying to distract me? Because I am on a mission. And I WILL get you two makeovered before the night if over. But the night is young, so if you don't mindddd..."

Alice pointed her wand in Lily's direction and Lily froze in horror. "Don't make a single move, Evans, or I will strap you down and gag you."

Lily looked like a deer in the headlights. But still a brave, go-down dying deer in the headlights

"Lily Evans, you will get this makeover."

"No."

"Jane!?"

"No, me neither."

"Ugh. Don't make me blackmail you two."

"Like you could even come up with a-"

"Evans, if you do this makeover..."

"Nice try but-"

"I will ensure that you and Declan Parish will be snogging by the end of the first month school starts."

"Wait...what?"

"Yeeeessss...and just think! Everyone will shut up about your looks if you just get the makeover done with and end up gorgeous! It'll definitely slap the Marauders in the face and everyone else would be stunned speechless. Especially a certain Ravenclaw Quidditch captain."

Lily actually looked like she was on the verge of changing her mind, maybe because the combination between Declan Parish being smoking hot and everyone else shutting up was a mighty good combination to be dealt with. She waited until Jane gave her answer.

"I mean...Alice has a good point. The whole castle would just stop bullying us for once in our lives once we start looking pretty. And...well, truth be told I could probably up my chances of being with Thomas Brown."

Alice, who was caught off guard, slowly rotated her head in Janes direction with her mouth hanging open and a look of pure evil glee on her face.

"Thomas. Brown. Jane Anne Mackenzie: You have not told me a single peep about your itty bitty fancy on the Hufflepuff Quidditch Captain! I demand to know why. Right now."

Lily herself was even stunned, but Jane broke into the giggles and twirled her hair as she embarrassedly looked at the wall, mumbling things like "he's so perfect" and "nice face" and "thought we'd never have a chance, you know" and "you guys wouldn't understand".

Alice and Lily looked at each other, Alice raising her eyebrows in question, while Lily bit her lower lip and finally shrugged, spitting out a vehement "Just go ahead."

Alice leaped into the air, pumped her fist once and then pointed her wand in Lily's direction.

"Ladies and gentlemen, starting today begins the epic 5 week journey of Lily and Jane's transformation. We will begin with a simple and permanent heightening potion. It's the purple vial on the bed."

Lily reached for it, uncorking the small, violet colored glass vial and about to drink it as fast as she could just to get it over with when Alice yelped and stopped her midway. Her wand was in her way.

"I have to say a spell with it. Just trust me on this."

Lily sighed and Alice tapped the top three times fast, doing a intricate swirling motion with her wand before saying "_pro ceritas sub limitas_" and then hesitantly gave Lily the thumbs-up and she downed it in one go.

The effect was immediate. Well, kind of.

"Nothing's happening."

"Don't worry. The change won't be noticeable until 24 hours have past. It's rather fickle."

"Ugh. That's what I get for trusting you."

* * *

"Holy flying broomsticks, I grew 6 inches. Over night." Lily breathed incredulously.

"Toooolldddyaaa~~"

"Jane, Jane come over here. Look at me right now. I have NO. FAT."

Lily turned in front of the full length mirror multiple times, pinching herself to check if she was still dreaming. Jane hummed in approval.

"I must be dead. Alice you killed me with that potion."

"Stop."

"No, I must be dead. I've never been this skinny in...well my whole life. Merlin."

"What did I say. Alice here is always right."

"I...I'm taller than you."

Alice paused, and then did the hand over the heads height check. Lily was right.

"Oh fuck no. This can't be happening."

"There are firsts for everything." Lily and Jane burst out laughing and Alice glared daggers. Maybe this wasn't going to be all fun and games for 5 weeks.

"Well, I'm just glad you're skinny and tall now. No more stupid taunts, right?"

"Riiigghhht, so what's next?"

Alice smirked. Zoom in on the next face of the next generation for Evil Covergirl.

"Two words. Five syllables. Bubotuber pus, Lily Evans. Bubotuber pus."

Lily paled.


	4. Chapter 4

Alice rummaged through the pile of beauty products on Lily's bed and took out a small jar of a yellow-green substance with a stopper on top. The label on the bottle said "diluted Bubotuber pus".

Alice then put on a pair of dragon-hide gloves and poured out a generous amount and rubbed the substance between her hands, and faced Lily with a wide smile on her face.

"Are you ready?"

Lily backed away and scrunched up her nose, Jane snickering and Alice sighed.

"Lily, don't be an ungrateful little brat, I went through so much trouble to get this for you! I had to squeeze my mom's bubotuber plants and my mom grounded me for a week because I was wasting valuable pus for your acne! At least Jane got her treatment over with with a dreamrolltogolist..." Jane raised her eyebrows and said, "you mean a dermatologist" but Alice waved her away.

"Yes! And now your face is as smooth as a baby's bottom."

Lily crossed her arm and shrugged. Alice took that as a yes, to go on and rub it in her face. Not...the bragging saying, but to literally rub it in her face.

"Here goes nothing! Just relax, close your eyes and don't breathe, it smells like petrol."

Lily followed Alice's orders and closed her eyes. Alice smeared the gooey greenish yellow stuff on Lily's face and Jane winced as Lily suddenly screamed at the top of her lungs, Alice looking much too proud of herself at the sudden violent outburst. She calmly faced Jane and burst into scientific rambling on the effects of the diluted Bubotuber pus on the skin as Lily roared in pain.

"What it does..." Alice began like an experienced professional, "is it seeps into the skin, getting rid of all the bacteria, all the redness and swelling that comes with acne, closing the pores and moisturizing it to give the skin a healthy glow."

Lily was suddenly quiet, lifting her head slowly and touching her face as she realized all the acne, and Bubotuber pus, was gone. Lily's mouth dropped open and looked in the mirror, finding a clear, white face.

Alice continued: "You'll have to keep putting it on for 2-3 days afterwards to prevent relapsing back into the acne. It shouldn't hurt too much, but the payoff is clear skin for the rest of your life." Jane gasped as she caught a look of Lily's face and grabbed both sides of it, examining every square inch like her life depended on it.

"Whoa...that was fast..." Jane was wide-eyed and smiling.

"I know right..." Lily mumbled between squished lips.

"You should try some too, Jane. I don't know how well muggle treatments work." Alice was checking her nails as if the entire situation was a normal occurrence.

The three of them moved from the adjoining bathroom back into the bedroom, Alice mumbling to herself to "remember to ask Mrs. Evans for the gym membership" when said mother walked in to check on the girls. They all looked thoroughly exhausted. It was only the early morning and they many other things yet to be done.

"How are you guys-oh my god, Lily you look great!" Mrs. Evans clapped and ran into the room, holding her hand out and gesturing to a completely changed Lily who did a 360 turn to show off.

"Who are you and what have you done with my daughter?" They all shrugged and Mrs. evans smiled: "Whatever you've done, I don't want her back!" Lily looked appalled and Jane and Alice suddenly erupted into joyous laughter, Mrs. Evans patting the two girls on the back for a job well done.

"Gee mum, love you too." Lily spat back sarcastically, Mrs. Evans laughed and kissed her daughter on the cheek, promising to come back and check up on the girls later in case they "happened to blow something up, can never tell with witches in the house..."

"Oh! Mrs. Evans," Alice interjected "I was wondering whether or not you could get Lily a gym membership so that she could work out?"

Mrs. Evans turned around and looked at Alice in a strange way, saying "I already have a gym membership; one for the whole family. Petunia does swimming, I play tennis, and Mr. Evans loves a good run on the treadmill every day after work. It's just Lily who hasn't gone once since I got it."

The three of them all turned to Lily, who was finding herself busy trying to examine the color of her walls.

"Right," Alice bit out threateningly, "well we'll just have to change that, won't we?"

"Yes, and I'd love it if you joined her at the gym! Since it's a family membership, you two can go along with Lily as much as you want. I'm just glad to get her out of the house as much as possible."

"Wait guys," Lily protested, "why would I need to go to the gym when I'm already skinny! It's just a waste of time. I already look good right. So what's the point?"

Alice rolled her eyes and gestured to Lily's figure.

"Well, if you don't work to keep the fat off, you'll be downing heightening potions to try to get it off again and again. What the potion does is it distributes the fat over the body as you grow taller, but once you start gaining weight you'll just need to get taller and being too tall is not a good thing. So going to the gym is the most reasonable solution. I thought you were smart, Evans."

"Yeah, whatever. Working out can't be that bad."

"You never know since you've never tried."

"Shut up, Alice."

"Guys, calm down and go now, since the both of you wont stop bantering until you've gone to the gym. Thanks for the help, Mrs. Evans."

"No problem, Jane, and if you girls need any help from the household muggle mum here just let me know."

* * *

Lily tied her poofy red hair into a ponytail and fixed up her running shoes up as the two girls waited for her on her front door. Petunia was scowling like no tomorrow as Lily waved to her parents and closed the front door, the three of them giggling and jogging lightly to the gym across the street from her house.

It was a gray and wet day, but the air was fresh and Lily took a deep breath of it, enjoying the way it burned her lungs because of how long she hadn't stepped outside her house. The girls entered the gym and a blast of cold air brushed past them, a check in desk greeted them and two doors flanking the desk. One door heading into the public gym floor one leading to the private gym floor. The gym had a pool, a dance room, a basketball court, a squash court and a rock climbing wall. Lockers were near the swimming pool and heated jacuzzi was also there.

The girls checked in and went straight to the public gym, and worked out for the next four hours.

Alice watched Jane and Lily on the treadmills like a hawk from her perch on the elliptical, every once in a while stopping to shout at Lily to run faster. Overall it was productive.

Not that it felt like it to Jane and Lily.

"Merlin, I feel like I'm going to die." Lily was sprawled like a star on the floor, limp as a noodle.

"My legs are gone. I might go into cardiac arrest." Jane panted out.

"Both of you need to grow a pair of balls and stop whining like a bunch of damsels in distress. Your knights in shining armor can't save you if they can't lift you up and carry you away into the moonlight!"

Jane and Lily both spat out a horrible "haha" in response.

As they were exiting the gym Lily ran into a young woman, literally, knocking her wallet and phone onto the cement floor, and Lily quickly apologized, barely glancing at her face.

She lifted the dropped wallet and phone to the woman, looking shocked at the fact she could recognize that face anywhere, a close friend and neighbor whom she had to babysit her cat for.

"M...Marlo?!"

The woman smiled, and took her wallet and phone from Lily's hands and Jane and Alice exchanged confused looks. The woman was beautiful, wavy shoulder-length blonde hair fixed in a lovely hair-do and she could have easily passed off as Marilyn Monroe's younger sister. She said a quiet thank-you and started talking to Lily as if they were long-time buddies.

"It's been a long time Lily! I barely see you anymore. How was school?"

"Uhhh...good. Well, as good as Hogwarts could get." Jane and Alice's eyes widened but Marlo just laughed.

"So you're a 6th year, yes?" Marlo asked "Ahh...the memories. I remember 6th year-"

"Actually, I'm going into 6th year. But that's about right." Lily awkwardly looked over her shoulder to her friends, looking anxious and worried and confused.

Marlo glanced over and smiled: "My apologies, you must be friends of Lily's. I forget that a pretty girl like you needs to go out every once in a while. Sometimes I feel too old,"

She held out her hand a Alice took it, shaking hesitantly, "I'm Marlo Hanson. I'm a witch too, don't worry! I work at the spa and salon next to the gym. It's a magical spa and salon though so our results come much faster." Alice's face lit up and before Lily could stop her she burst in-

"You're work at the salon?! And you're a witch?! Could you...if you don't mind...could you help us with a little project? I'm making Lily and our lovely friend, Jane over and I really need your help if you do hair spells. I mean, I'm a little iffy on them, and if I have a professional onhand,"

"That sounds likes a great idea!" Jane interjected, and Alice looked back at Marlo hopefully, who looked enthusiastic about the idea. Lily pouted and quickly responded with a sour, "No, Marlo, please don't say yes!" while Marlo considered it for a moment.

"I'd...I'd love to! How about after my shift ends, I'll join you guys later? I'll give you a call and see what I'm working with." She winked in Lily's direction and Lily looked completely done with the world.

She checked her watch, "Hogwarts really helped in my profession, and in my case, helping young girls give each other makeovers. Talking about that, I need to get back to work." She waved and said a goodbye, leaving Lily, Jane and Alice all alone.

"She was nice. How did you meet her?" Alice asked.

"Had to babysit her cat for a few months last year. She also happened to be a witch when I found out her cat was really an animagus." They both gaped and Lily cracked up, "Well, it transformed on me while I was feeding her and she turned out to be Marlo's little sister. Adoptive, off-the-streets, little sister. Stray magical cat from long time ago, don't ask me! She found her on her way home when she was younger and still in Hogwarts. Okay, that sounds really creepy but I swear that's what she told me and they did it as a joke. All I had to do was feed her, and the food wasn't even real cat food, thank goodness, and make sure she didn't attack the pillows. Not that she ever did under my watch but...that's a story for another time." Lily sighed nostalgically and Alice rolled her eyes, mumbling about how sweaty she was how weird Evans is and they all went back to the house to shower.

* * *

The shower was short, and all three girls were patiently awaiting Marlo's arrival. Until then, Alice got to work fixing Jane's and Lily's teeth...

"_dentibus rectus"_

There was a crunching sound and Jane and Lily simultaneously yelled in pain, hands flying to their mouths as their teeth were rearranged to their rightful places. Tears in their eyes their eyes, they both glared at Alice.

"Sometimes I wish you could feel our pain."

Alice laughed maniacally and there was suddenly the ringing of the doorbell as Marlo made her appearance. All three girls sat up straighter as the door to the bedroom flew open and she waltzed in, wand in hand and a bag of her own salon treatments in hand as she surveyed the room.

Her eyebrows flew up into her hairline.

"I didn't think you'd have so much stuff!" Alice supposed she meant the mountain of beauty supplies piled haphazardly on Lily's bed, "I wouldn't have brought all the other stuff I had if I knew how thorough your friends would be Lily!" Lily sneered at Alice who was as proud as a lion for being complimented.

"Well it's very kind of you to have come to help us Marlo. Could you help me oversee these two idiots as I try to whiten their teeth? Just take a look. Smile for the camera guys!" Jane and Lily both beamed and Marlo's eyes widened. On the outside it looked as if they were gorgeous, but their teeth were so yellow that it offset any perks they had achieved in the last few days.

"I see what you mean there, Alice. Alright, I'd love to help you ladies." Alice nodded and then turned to face her two victims once again. It was like a mad scientist facing her guinea pigs and the rodents cowering back in fear.

"_niveus dentium_"

There was no pain, but a gradual fading of color in the teeth until it was pure as snowy white. Or Albus Dumbledore's beard.

"Good job!" Marlo examined Alice's work before she frowned and gestured to Jane's oversized canines. "Lily's teeth are perfect but it's just.." She looked at Jane and Jane mouthed her name to Marlo, "Jane's teeth are too big for her mouth. You might need to shrink them." Jane nodded and faced Alice who quickly said the spell to shrink Jane's teeth.

"_reducio dentium_"

Jane's teeth were shrinked to normal size and she moved her jaw to test out her new teeth.

"If you guys want to keep the white teeth, use whitening strips, too. Or whatever those muggle devices are called." Alice reminded both of them.

"It feels strange. But at least I look normal now." Jane turned her head to and fro, examining each inch of her teeth.

"Yeah, and it's not all yellow anymore." Lily was smiling widely at a mirror to see how well Alice did. It looked perfect. Her skin was still clear and she was still skinny, and the only thing left to do was-

"Hair!" Marlo announced, holding up her wand and pointing to Lily first to stand perfectly still as she waved her wand and a small light was emitted from the end of her wand. There was a buzzing in the air as Lily looked up to see her poofy nest shrink and straighten to her waist.

"I think it would look better wavy, right Marlo?" Alice had her arms crossed and her head was tilted as she circled Lily to see what would look best.

"I think so too. Are you okay with that Lily?" Lily put a thumbs up and Marlo continued to twirl her wand in Lily's hair until small waves appeared, and the red strands were glistening under Marlo's careful magic.

"Turn towards the mirror. Slowly." Lily slowly rotated toward the full-length mirror in her room and gasped. Her hair was worthy of her own commercial, company, and paid models. Her hair could woo princes. Or knights in shining armor.

"Merlin. Eep!" Lily squealed, jumping up and down and Marlo scolded her for moving while the spell was still working to fix her hair.

"This is permanent, so anything that you do to mess me up will stay with you forever. However, I do think I have done a rather nice number on you, Lily. A lot of the women back at the salon would love this style." Alice looked positively enthralled by the thick waves of deep red that was Lily new hair.

"Jane?"

She got up and stood in Lily's place as the spell was stopped and Lily went to admire her red, wavy locks in the bathroom. In privacy.

Marlo's wand again began to glow and Jane's hair was straightened to her shoulders and then Marlo applied the same glossening treatment to the strands of blonde hair. Instead of the dull, frizzy ness from before it became shiny and new.

Jane waited until Marlo was done to step away and toward the mirror. She smiled happily at her new hair, shoulder-length and shiny. It was as if she just stepped out of a salon, which she kind of did. Marlo turned to Alice who clapped happily and ran her hands through the silky blond strands.

Marlo looked at her watch and sighed: "I guess my work here is done. It's getting late and I need to get back to the house. And Lily," Lily ran out of the bathroom with a bright smile on her face, "write to me when you get back to Hogwarts." Lily, Alice and Jane waved good bye to Marlo and with a crack she disappeared.

"Okay, so here's what we've done so far: heightening, check. Skin, check. Teeth, check. Hair, check. Now all that's left, at least for Lily-" Lily groaned as she knew what was coming, "is to do eyes. Which means get rid of those ugly glasses."

Jane smiled as she knew she was practically done with her makeover. And she looked better than ever after all Alice had done, along with Marlo's hair changing wonders and without the full support of Lily.

"Sooo~, if we are doing eyes next, I know my uncle is the nation's best wizarding ophthalmologist who would love if his niece would come and visit, especially with her two newly baptized friends of the beauty world." Lily shook her head at the over dramatic outburst.

"If he's the nations best, wouldn't we need an appointment?"

"I must've forgotten to mention the fact I'm his FAVORITE niece, that part was important. Favoritism in my case always overrides common policy. We are going to him tomorrow."

Lily and Jane rolled their eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

The morning after Marlo's visit the three girls went directly to Sutton to visit Alice's uncle Samuel Prewett (otherwise known as "Uncle Sam"), the renowned ophthalmologist for the wizarding world. After a long morning getting ready with the application of bubotuber pus for Lily and whitening stripes for both Lily and Jane, and an even longer trip due to delays on the train, they finally got to the large private clinic that Alice's uncle owned. They sweeped into the modern waiting area and the woman at the desk barely took five seconds to look at Alice before her mouth fell open in surprise.

"Oh, Alice!" It was clear that Alice was a well-known face among the clinic walls.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Price! I'm here to see Uncle Sam."

If that phrase wasn't scary enough, the image of how easily Alice could get through with knowing the right people did not put either Lily or Jane at ease whatsoever.

"Mr. Prewett is having lunch right now. However, he did inform me to _clear his entire schedule_ if his beloved niece made an appearance." Her fingers flew across the sleek keyboard and then she stood up and guided the girl to a lunchroom. Lily's and Jane's mouths were agape. What type of man was he?!

A middle-aged man in a pair of doctor's scrubs and a bite-sized sandwich in hand was scanning over a patient's folder when he looked up at the knock at the door. His eyes lit up when he saw Alice and he immediately downed the last piece of bread before going over to hug his niece. They stood there for a moment before he noticed two beautiful girls standing behind her, one with flaming red hair and another with golden-blond hair. He smiled and reached out a hand to both girls, his teeth pearly white and introduced himself as Samuel Prewett. His teeth were not only perfect, but so were his eyes. A warm, chocolatey brown, like Alice's.

"You must be the girls my lovely niece is always talking about. Are you two here for an appointment?" They nodded, and he laughed. "Of course you are. What could I do for you today?"

Alice chimed in: "We're here to get Lily's eyes fixed. Lily needs to get rid of her glasses." It was the blunt truth, and Lily squirmed in place. Dr. Prewett, however, just nodded in understanding. "I see...you should be glad I'm the best in the country for these sorts of things then-" He whirled on the spot and gestured for the girls to follow him down the hall, and they followed in silence,

"Magic used to repair the eyes is very tricky and only works for certain people. Since I am an experienced professional, and have been doing this for years, trying the procedure on you today shouldn't be any trouble. If you, Lily, still feel unsure, we can always talk about insurance policies to protect you. While you may be my niece's friend, I will treat you with the same respect and responsibility I treat all the rest of my patients. That should be an obvious given." Lily smiled at the man's kind words and realized where Alice got all of her charm from.

"Just take a seat on the bed and just relax. I'll be in with you shortly." He left the room and Lily quietly panicked.

"Don't worry, Lily, I bet you'll be fine." Jane patted her on the back and Lily took deep breaths, the farthest from fine. She was so unfine her usually talkative self had gone silent.

"He won't charge at least. That's one less thing you'll have to worry about. The insurance should cover any damages done, and I swear if he wasn't the best I wouldn't have brought you here, Evans." Alice reasoned from her seat in the corner of the sparse room.

When Dr. Prewett returned, he had a file in hand. He sat down and began explaining to Lily "the process" and asking questions about her medical history, particularly focussed on her past vision tests and how long she had glasses. It was all normal muggle procedure and once he was done, he took out a wand and began a magical eye examination, looking for any abnormalities, humming every once and a while. Alice was focussed like a hawk in her seat and Jane was mesmerized, never having seen such a procedure carried out by a wizard before. Once he was done, he diagnosed Lily with early symptoms of **Presbyopia**, when the eye loses focus on things that were nearby.

"It's a very common eye problem that is part of the aging process, and is often confused with farsightedness, while presbyopia is only when the lense in the eye loses its flexibility. It can be easily fixed with magic, while muggles have the surgical process called conductive keratoplasty to help." He procured a pamphlet from in the room and showed her some pictures. "I treat many patients with the same problem and all have been permanently cured."

Lily nodded, unaware of her diagnosis until now (she hadn't cared to research it much in her spare time) and agreed to go on with the procedure. Dr. Prewett went searching through one of the room's cabinets and took out a long tube of a clear liquid, and measuring out the correct amount and giving it to Lily to drink.

"It's a potion that should put you to a deep, painless sleep. Similar to anesthesia, or the sleeping spell, but your eyes will be wide open for the entire time I am working on your eyes." Lily tilted her head back and drank the potion, the taste was slightly reminiscent of lavender as she sat back and felt her mind go completely blank.

Dr. Prewett pulled out his wand, the end like a little flashlight to check Lily's pupil response. Nothing. Once he was sure that Lily was fully under the potion's work, he carefully collected a few drops of Lily's tears by spell, and went to the room's sink to filled the bottom of a shallow, metal bowl with water.

He pulled out a few bottles of colored liquid in bottles labelled with long latin names and dropped a few into the bowl, along with Lily's tears, while the color still remained clear as water. He dipped his wand into the liquid. With a whispered spell, he made two small, thin curved lenses materialize in the water and went back to the bed where Lily sat, levitating the two lenses so that they sat over Lily's eyes securely. The lenses dissolved, and some of the veins and splotches in the whites of her eyes disappeared, along with any filmy dull cells that covered her pupils. "It helps regenerate and undo the major aging or damage in Lily's eyes." Dr. Prewett explained. Jane was looking at Lily's still and wide eyes with breathless unease, as it looked like she was dead, if she stopped breathing.

With a flourish of his wand, he expertly drained the last of the water to produce two more lenses of the eye, this time smaller, and directly matching Lily's eye to be exact, and placed them over Lily's eyes. The lenses melted into her pupils, like the ones previous, but right as they were sunk into her cornea Lily's old lenses of her eyes resurfaced to the front, and Dr. Prewett removed them carefully into the shallow metal bowl. He discarded the Lily's old lenses sanitarily, watched his wands for extra proof and came back to the bed with a wide smile on his face.

"Done!"

Jane stepped back and sighed in relief, Alice finally standing up from her seat and watched her uncle wake Lily up from her temporary slumber. She didn't move at first, only blinked her eyes rapidly, and then sat up abruptly when everything looked crystal clear.

"Did you bring my glasses, Alice?" Alice pulled them out of her bag and Dr. Prewett just smiled shyly as Lily tried them on only to see disorienting blurs. She immediately took them off after trying to read the pamphlet he had given her earlier with the glasses on and only managed to feel dizzy afterwards.

"Merlin's beard, it worked!"

Lily smiled so hard it hurt, and the girls hopped up and down gleefully as Dr. Prewett chuckled softly, winking at Alice who gave her uncle a kiss on the cheek and a tight hug, thanking him for his help and Lily practically in tears for Mr. Prewett's work that completely saved her eyesight. It was a moment she had never thought would come to her; always jealous that Petunia didn't need glasses to see better. She was also immensely grateful to Alice for giving her the very best so that she wouldn't need to be charged massively for a procedure that was worth thousands.

As the girls were leaving the building, Lily spoke excitedly on the phone in hushed tones with her mother who was ready to burst with the news, Dr. Prewett quietly taking aside Alice for a little talk. Jane had escaped to the restroom, but was found lingering longer than was usual to stare stunned at her new self. Even after the month of horrible treatment from her father, she had to admit she did look beautiful, and completely happy, with herself. She smiled at the mirror as a result, to see a gleaming pair of pearly white teeth and bright, violet eyes staring back in contentment. She could live with this, and things were bound to get better.

Walking back to the house, Alice looked melancholy, like someone had shot her dog…

Her heart was heavy, weighed down by the dark news her uncle had told her in his office.

* * *

**An hour ago**

"_A few days ago…" Dr. Prewett shut the door behind him, his happy exterior disappearing and was replaced by a somber look of despair, "I got a letter from the Potters. I assumed it was another one of their get-togethers, pureblood reunion parties, you know their types, or an invitation to tea." He trailed off again, and it wasn't like him to get right to the point but leave it off so quickly. The news had to be bad-_

"_But as I read the letter, I realized it was a funeral announcement." _

_Alice's face melted into shock and she blinked. Someone had died? How? _

"_A funeral announcement?"_

"_Invitation. Somewhere around the end of the term for you. Mrs. Potter died from dragon pox after weeks stuck in St. Mungo's. I contacted the doctors there to check." He scraped a hand through his hair._

"_It's surely a tragedy, and I feel awful for the Potters for dealing with it at such a time." Dr. Prewett shook his head, the very idea distressing him, "Imagine what the boy must feel at this time. Motherless. It's a great shame, for such a woman to have died. She was wonderful." _

_Alice had her mouth open and could not find it in herself to close it. The shock coursed through her, turning her blood icy cold, and to think that James…James fucking Potter's own MOTHER was dead. She wouldn't ever wish such a thing on anyone. Even that particular arsehole._

"Alice?"

Alice turned around and caught the worried looks of Jane and Lily. She was going to tell them, she had too, but she just got the news herself and the shock was still settling in. She had seen Mrs. Potter occasionally in passing, but had never spoke in depth with her or her family. The only contact she had gotten to their life was through their son, and that in itself was not a fair impression of the entire family. She felt awful that she could've insulted her son knowing that she was now dead and James was left with his father and Sirius. She had to attend her funeral, barely even knowing the woman, and Merlin, what if James would be there? James had to be there, and the moment when she would see him, utterly distraught…

"Yes?"

"Are you all right? You look pale."

"Yes, I'm fine. It's just a long story. Complicated."

"Want to tell us later?"

"..."

"You don't have-"

"I will, it's just...I will, I promise. I'm still kind of getting over it."

"Okay…?"

Jane and Lily looked away, still deeply unsure about Alice and what she knew.

* * *

**Please leave reviews, follows or a favorite :) Thank you **


	6. Chapter 6

Around the same day the next week, the girls had come back from a morning at the gym to shower, when Mrs. Evans knocked on the door to announce a little "surprise".

"How does Diagon Alley sound to you girls?" Alice's eyebrows went shooting up to her forehead and both Jane and Lily smiled to each other.

"It sounds great! I've been planning to bring them for the longest time…" Alice clapped her hands together and turned to her friends, winking mischieviously. "You know what they say, Mrs. Evans. _Shop 'til you drop."_

* * *

Except when it came to shopping, Alice was serious when she meant dropping. Dead.

"You girls call me when you're done, alright!" Lily waved to her mum as she walked away. It was just the three of them.

Not only were they going to shop for new apparel but since school was starting soon they might as well have gotten school supplies as well. At least, that was what Alice planned to do when it turned out she had a lot more things in mind than just shopping.

"I know this great shop that sells dresses for the lowest prices, and they're quality." Alice hadn't stopped talking to even take a breath as they were heading to Diagon Alley. "OH! We can go there right after we get some beauty products for you two at another shop I always go to since the owner knows me well you guys might even get discounts, and then we'll go to a spa and salon where my personal stylist could help set you guys up with a walk-in appointment with a specialist and OH THIS'LL BE SO MUCH FUN!" Lily croaked a half-hearted "yay" and Jane simply forced a wide smile.

The shopping was gruesome, but strangely satisfying to both Jane and Lily who knew that shopping involved a lot of standing and a lot of walking and a lot of Alice squealing, pointing and dragging them toward shops, only to walk out with bags of casual-wear. After about the first hour or so, they stopped to eat and then were off to do more shopping. They finally found themselves in a secluded corner, where witches and wizards found themselves few and far between, where a small, intricately carved sign of wood showed they had come to "_Madame Marcelline's Dress Boutique"_

Alice pulled open the frost glass door of the shop and a small golden bell echoed around the shop. When Lily and Jane looked up, they gasped. The entire ceiling was covered in wind chimes and floating candles, a small breeze blowing to make the metal instruments sing every once and a while. The entire shop was much bigger on the inside than it appeared on the outside, covered in rack and racks of dresses, the windows had moving mannequins, and a whimsical theme of a secret garden to the whole of the shop. It was like stepping into a whole other world.

The shop was divided into five obvious sections: casual, party, formal, wedding gowns, and seasonal. Alice waltzed to the seasonal section, Lily to the party section, and Jane to the casual section.

Alice circled the racks quietly, the scraping of the hooks against metal the only sound that was made throughout the entire shop, which was empty. The register was sitting forlorn on a desk that looked like it was cut straight from a tree. Jane went off on her own, having spotted a dress like a spotlight was shining down on it from the heavens, and Lily simply stared at awe at the huge variety of hats, scarves and clutches that adorned one wall of the shop.

Jane stepped quietly over to a faceless mannequin with a wig of shoulder-length blond hair. The mannequin waved her over and put it's hand on it's hips to show Jane how well the dress fit. It was a black, floral-pattern dress, simple, but elegant. There was a skinny pink belt that went with it, and it reached just above the knees. The fabric was soft and open, fit for the warmer months. Jane closed her eyes and imagined herself in it, her head tilted back in laughter, a wineglass in hand (although she never dared to think about herself drinking in the near future) and a man chuckling warmly back with her.

"Do you like it?"

Jane whipped around and saw an elderly woman, deep wrinkled embedded in the skin of her face, and a twinkle in her violent purple eyes. She chuckled lightly and patted Jane on the back, while Jane just stood stunned. She had a crooked back and a crooked smile but still seemed very young on the inside. She gestured to the mannequin and it tilted its head in question.

"Well? We're waiting for an answer."

Jane stood dumbfounded for a few minutes, and then nodded. "I like how understated the design is; the pattern of the birds and the flowers is very pretty, and the belt really flatters the waist. It brings out the color of my eyes, I think." She looked at the woman's eyes, then back at the dress, and nodded with finality.

The woman seemed over the moon, and showed her rows of yellowing teeth. "My name is Madame Marcelline. I go by Emmy though. I'm the owner." She held her hand out to gesture to the whole store, "I make every single one of these dresses by myself, for many years, even the extravagant wedding gowns. But all my years of making dresses, never have I seen another girl with beautiful purple eyes like you." She turned back and pointed to her own eyes, "you are very special, to have such eyes. And for every special girl, I must find a special dress to meet her needs."

Jane was aware of the raging blush on her face, but took no measure to hide it whatsoever. She shyly tucked a hair behind her ear as the woman chuckled and the mannequin wiped an invisible tear from it's invisible face. That's when Alice made her appearance with Lily behind her, dressed in a deep wine-red patterned shirt dress. She looked beautiful, and Jane's jaw fell open. Alice hummed in agreement.

"...found it for her while she was off frolicking in the party dresses…" Alice muttered to herself proudly, crossing her arms and barking out an order for Lily to twirl. She did, and the flaming color of her hair and the blood red of the dress complimented each other perfectly. Emmy smiled, again showing her yellowing teeth.

"I see you've been busy, Alice, fixing up your friends like you always told me." She winked to Jane. "How about I find you girls some more special occasion appropriate dresses…" She walked off into the jungle of colored fabrics and disappeared, leaving Alice to goggle and coo to the faceless mannequin about how well the dress would look on Jane.

"Buy it Jane!" Jane shrugged, and Alice rolled her eyes, "suit yourself. I need to find something of my own with all the money I had left over from Rome." She wandered off and Lily had found a mirror to admire herself in.

"Wow Jane. I never thought I could look so good. Or for that matter, fit into a size…" She looked down at the tag, and her eyes widened, "two!" She stared at herself truly this time, deep into her evergreen eyes and long red hair and sighed. She looked overcome by emotions. "I guess Alice was right. Even though I could hardly care what anyone thinks about me, it will definitely shut them up. It's hard to argue changing oneself when you end up looking really gorgeous. I don't even mean to be arrogant, but it's true." She put her hands on her hips and Jane nodded to her words.

* * *

_Let's start with Lily Marie Evans shall we?_

_Beautiful Marie Evans is 5 foot 8 and gorgeous. She is really, really gorgeous. It isn't a lie either; waist-length, wavy red hair and evergreen eyes, Lily Evans is a goddess, but not the in-your-face kind, but the WOW kind. Clear, pale skin, and graced with an hourglass figure, a dazzling white smile, and a dazzling personality to match, she was both beautiful on the inside and out. She was also brainy. _

_Jane Anne Mackenzie was no longer the side-kick, but a hero on her own. 5 feet 9 Flowing golden blond hair that reached her shoulders, jewel-bright violet eyes, a blindingly white smile, clear skin and a hourglass figure to boot, she was one: "Jane Anne Mackenzie: eternally beautiful."_

* * *

"Oi, Evans, get over here. Emmy found a dress for you that you could wear to the Christmas masquerade ball." Lily turned around and the elderly woman had a majestic green dress floating in midair, making Jane's eyes bug out of their sockets from how...how…

"Magical, isn't it? I had it fixed a little to fit you, Lily, and now it looks just splendid on you. I could see it with my own two eyes." Those purple eyes twinkled and Lily was speechless. The gown was deep green and was radiant with how silky the material was. There was a shiny crystal neckline and a fitted waist, with spaghetti straps. With a twirl of her wand, Emmy had the dress materialize on Lily, like the scene from Cinderella where the fairy godmother made the rags into a beautiful ball gown, and Lily admired herself in the mirror. The green brought out the color in her eyes.

"Merlin. Lily." Jane was right over Lily's shoulder and looked about ready to burst, "this is so. Damn. Pretty."

"Every masquerade dress needs a mask to come with it." Emmy twirled her wand and on Lily's face appeared a feathered green mask, adorned with diamonds.

"Wow. Thank you so much." Lily brought a hand up to the mask and could barely even recognize herself, not to think about all the other people who might be there at the ball, which wasn't even on her top-priority list at the moment.

"For you Jane," Alice was buried under a huge silk taffeta dress, midnight purple, with more shiny crystals at the neckline which led all the way down to her waist. Jane could not close her jaw for all she could help. She had her own matching purple mask, and Alice had already bought a masquerade dress for herself. ("What else did you buy?" Jane and Lily cornered her.)

"Among some other things, but you lot don't need to know that." Alice meant shoes and accessories, but seemed too nonchalant with all the expensive looking dresses she had "volunteered" to buy for her friends. Lily would never let her down if she knew she had bought their things for them, but they didn't need to know.

After that, they had left the shop with a teary farewell to the shop-owner, while Alice promised to keep in touch with Madame Marcelline.

* * *

They all went back to finish the school shopping part, which felt like routine, and then went to buy makeup (well, Alice went to buy makeup, since she claimed "You two are clueless on what to buy, but I'll have to teach you later.") and FINALLY the spa. They were all seated and towel-wrapped, facial masked, and pampered by 50 different magical pedicure/manicurists when Alice suddenly broke the news. When they were all alone...

"So you know how I told you guys about...the thing that happened last week?" They all remembered. "Well, Potter's mum died. Yeah." Alice whispered. Nice going, Prewett. Real damn smooth.

Jane and Lily stilled until they were unblinking, unbreathing.

"You're not trying to mess with us right Alice?"

"Why would I do that about this? As much as I hate James...I wouldn't say something as low as that as a joke." She remembered thinking she wouldn't wish death on anyone, no matter how much she hated them.

"Merlin. No wonder you were so strange last week. It must've been hard to hear such news." Jane said, looking pale also, but part of that reason was because she herself was remembering her own mum, gone from her life forever. She didn't even know what she looked like, much less who she was as a woman. She knew the pain, and now she felt terrible that someone else would go through the same thing, but much harder knowing how close of a bond James and his mother must've had.

"I do feel sorry for the git." Lily announced suddenly, shocking both her friends when they both knew how much she despised Potter with every ounce of her being. It wasn't despise, more like disgust, but that was besides the point; she had openly showed compassion to someone who had been nothing but heartless to her countless times before. "I'm not a monster, and neither is he. Losing a loved one hurts for everyone." She elaborated, and they all silently agreed that whatever he was going through, it must've been hard. "However, I don't excuse his behavior nor do I suddenly have pity for him. He doesn't deserve that."

"I'm going to the funeral tomorrow. I just...I'm sorry I didn't bring it up until the last moment. I just couldn't bring myself to admit something so horrible." Alice looked racked with guilt but her two friends understood. Holding such a secret to oneself was hard, especially when it had to do with a familiar face, and although they didn't know quite what Alice felt that led to her not telling them for days, it must've been a good reason. Alice was beautiful, but she was hardly a brainless ditz like Charlotte Dawson. She was just as brilliant as the two girls beside her were.

"Are you three ready to leave?" Mrs. Evans had found herself at the magical spa and salon after a phone call from Lily and they indeed had been busy bees. Shopping bags littered the floor by their feet and she knew that there were spells used to make things that looked small larger on the inside. "You guys didn't splurge too much did you?"

All three turned to each other, guilty faces put on full.

Then they turned to her innocently, nodding like little children.

As if SHE couldn't notice. Who did they think she was? Well, not the mother of Lily and Petunia Evans, the two most impossible kids who she raised even when they were fighting incessantly over every little thing and plotting against each other at every turn of her back.

"Of course not Mrs. Evans."

She shook her head and laughed.

"Well, I should say. You girls all look MARVELOUS."

* * *

**All our gracious thanks go out to our readers, and please review, follow or favorite! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

The bedroom door creaked open, and Lily opened one bleary eye to see Alice, dressed in black, leaving the room. The bleak blue of early dawn peeked through drawn curtains.

It was funeral day.

Lily's chest constricted painfully and she was suddenly filled with anxious unease that tingled all the way down to her toes. She didn't want to wake Jane and alert Alice to her waking, so as Lily silently panicked, she closed to pretend she was still asleep. Alice took one last look behind her, at her sleeping friends, before closing the door with a muffled whoosh against the carpeted floor.

There was a beat of calm silence that filled the room, before Lily heard the bedsheets rustle beside her. There was a slight commotion downstairs, Mr. and Mrs. Evans saying a cheery farewell and thank you, and Petunia grumbling as she shut the front door.

"Goodbye Alice." Jane's quiet voice whispered.

* * *

**8 hours before**

"You two make it look like I'm the one dying."

Lily and Jane looked guiltily at one another, sitting in Lily's bedroom late at night, surrounded by shopping bags and new clothes, listening to Alice teach them how to apply makeup and her rants about their new looks stunning the boys back at school into silence.

("NO! Don't you dare open that bag Evans!"

"Why not? What's inside? Is it a surprise?"

"Because I said so, and no. It's mine. It's...the personal stuff."

"Oh! Oh dear, okay. Girl problems, I getcha. Bleh, now just get it out of my face."

"Don't give it to me Lily!")

They had just covered the unfortunate topic of Potter's mum dying for the upteenth time and Alice had had enough. It wasn't even HER funeral, but their goodbye's felt like she was never going to see them again.

"I know it's depressing, but can't you two be reminded that it's James fucking Potter we're talking about here? The largest git in history? Your faces make it seem like he was a saint!"

"Yeah, Alice, but that doesn't make it any less sad. I feel bad for him."

"But Jane, you shouldn't feel bad for him. Sure, he may be a grade A arsehole, but he's doing it just to seek attention too. Losing his mum doesn't suddenly give us the permission to pity him."

"Now that I think of it, we don't even know what she died of."

"Dragon pox, Jane. Uncle Sam told me. Isn't it so sad, though?"

"I guess…" Lily mumbled, pulling at the end of her long hair.

They quickly moved onto another subject, after Alice had drilled into their minds that she would be back to meet them at Platform 9 ¾ but until then they were on their own. Which meant she had to cram a huge amount of beauty tips into a one night lesson on how to walk in heels, ("If the time ever calls for it, you never know.") apply makeup, do their hair, and dress. Really dress, not just throw something on.

"Everything else, like the basics, I would expect you two to know. We've been going through the motions of a healthy lifestyle enough that it should be ingrained in your brain cells along with all those spells from school. If you forget, or you just can't come up with an answer on your own, consult the interwebs, because I'm sure muggles have a few tricks up their sleeves, even if they don't have magic to help them."

Alice then sent a terrifying glare in their directions, "And if I find out you two have quit on our mission, I will personally find you and kill you."

They both gulped.

"You know that 10 quid I still owe you Lily? It's going into a new bet." Alice had a hair curler in one hand and bottle of new perfume in the other. "I will bet you that 10 quid that no one will be able to recognize you the moment you step onto the Hogwarts Express."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Don't be ridiculous, of course they'll recognize me. I still look like me, even though I'm skinnier and without the glasses. Plus, you do know that if you lose, you owe me 20 quid instead of just 10." Jane didn't look so sure though.

"Yeah, but Alice has a point: it's not like anyone will think about us changing. They have known us for 7 years to be these fat girls with no chance. Suddenly we're gorgeous? It'll throw them all for a loop."

"Exactly!" Alice brandished a stiletto heel in Jane's direction, making Jane yelp, "They won't know what hit them. It'll be **exactly** how I imagine it to be: the Marauders with helpless jaws open, pointed fingers, hushed whispers of worshipping awe, Darcy and Charlotte's hateful faces painted with jealousy, the gleeful looks of Declan Parish and Thomas Brown, and then ME!" Alice sang, "ME, THE MASTERFUL ARTIST IN DISGUISE, THE DIRECTOR BEHIND THE RED CURTAIN, MAKING MY GRAND DEBUT WITH FRANK TO APPLAUD MY GENIUS AND MY TWO BEAUTIFUL MODELS TO SHOW THE WORLD HOW AMAZING I AM!" Alice had the heel pressed to her chest like a baby, and sighed dreamily.

Crickets chirped in the background.

"Oi, earth to Alice, you there?" Jane snorted as Lily moved a hand back and forth over Alice's lost face. "Did you die and go to self-center heaven or what?" Alice snapped from her trance and pouted.

"You guys are no fun!"

The three girls continued like this, jokes and girl business, until they all yawned, got ready to go to bed and settled into their respective spots around Lily's mattress, sleeping bags and all.

"Goodnight loser #1."

"Sweet dreams sucker #2."

"You can all go to hell, bitches." Alice finally ended. Of course the last goodnight had to be the worse. "Just kidding. Hope you two drown in your drool." In which Lily countered with a "I know you fart in your sleep," at the same time Jane said "You snore like an airplane taking off."

"Ugh, that's the thanks I get for making you guys over. Well, fuck you two, too." They all cackled at the homonym, and all simultaneously said, "Just kidding."

"Jinx!" They all scrambled for Lily's wooden desk chair, and Alice got it first, grinning evilly.

"You owe me 10 quid, Evans."

"In your dreams, Prewett, deal with a soda."

* * *

The two brushed their teeth and sat at Lily's dining table, Petunia already seated and munching on cereal as Mr. Evans was cooking up scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Hungry girls?" They all hummed back in agreement.

Lily looked around curiously for her mum as Jane went to the fridge to get orange juice as if it was second nature.

"Lily, mum went out to get milk, since we ran out. Petunia got the last drops this morning." There was a bored "yep" from said person.

Once they were all seated and were quietly dining on breakfast, Mr. Evans with his newspaper and cup of tea, there was silence all around the table, only the clinking of glasses and silverware. At around 7 past, Mr. Evans glanced at the clock and straightened, drinking up the last dregs of the tea before kissing Lily and Petunia goodbye before heading off to work.

"Goodbye dad." They each said.

"Goodbye girls. Have fun, don't kill each other." He chuckled back.

Funny enough, the minute he said that, hand on the door and his head turned back to the dining room, he had the door hit him right in the face with the entrance of Mrs. Evans, a manic glee painted on her face as she held a bag of Tesco's in one hand and mail in the other.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry darling." Mrs. Evans gently rubbed the little red spot that had appeared on her husband's forehead. "I didn't see you there." She chuckled, which only made the tears of mirth and pain on Mr. Evans face trickle out faster.

"No worries, sweetheart, I'll be fine. Nothing but a little wake-up call." He chuckled and kissed her cheek, saying a quick goodbye before leaving the house, safely this time.

While all this happened, the girls had set their empty dishes in the sink and Petunia disappeared into her room as she did every morning of every day since the arrival of her sister's "friends" whom she had called "freaks".

* * *

_So there we have it folks. A few days before school, and the girls have exciting news. Now just WHAT exactly the world has in store for them, no one will know. But sometimes it takes looking below the surface to find an adventure just waiting to be found._

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please review, follow or favorite!~ :D**


	8. Chapter 8

**'ello readers! So sorry for the late-ish update, but here's chapter 8 (finally!) ~Moony&Prongs**

* * *

_My heart skips a beat_

_My heart skips a beat_

_My heart is always first to know_

_And as the feeling grows_

_I can't deny, push those thoughts aside_

_My world is full of loveliness_

_But I focus on the stress_

_~"My Heart Skips A Beat" by Lenka_

* * *

At long last, the return to Hogwarts had arrived.

Lily took one last glance at the full-length mirror, her stuff packed, and Jane was on her bed, looking through her phone, her shoulder-length hair pulled up into a high ponytail. They had on the new clothes from Diagon Alley and their makeup applied just as Alice had instructed. Lily's red hair fell in loose curls to her waist and she nervously tugged at the hem of her skirt.

"Girls! Are you ready to leave yet?" Mrs. Evans called from downstairs, and Lily called back a "yeah" before grabbing her bags and heading downstairs. Jane quickly joined her downstairs where Mr. and Mrs. Evans waited, excited smiles on their faces. Petunia was sitting on the couch in the living room, a scowl etched into her face even as the telly was playing some brainless reality show. Lily gave a half-heartedly farewell to her sister, and Jane wished her well. Petunia said a cheery goodbye at the doorstep and closed the door with a little too much force necessary. Lily rolled her eyes and pulled Jane toward the car.

A few more minutes, and they had arrived at the train station. Lily's heart was drumming an intense riff of a rock song in her chest and Jane's knee hadn't stopped bouncing for the entire length of the nervous silence in the car, interrupted periodically by Lily's parents. Lily's mind was too busy freaking out about the reactions of her classmates upon seeing her and Jane was as equally dreadful of that fact and perhaps seeing her father, if he did come to see if she was there. Both of them tingled with the excitement of seeing Alice and telling her about the news of Lily's Head Girl status and Jane's Prefect title.

"Bloody hell, is it just me or am I going to have a heart attack?" Jane burst forth as they arrived at the busy train station, familiar faces blinding them every which way, and Lily laughed shakily, hauling her and Jane's suitcase from the boot while Mrs. Evans quickly reprimanded Lily for trying to carry so much stuff without her help. Mr. Evans had their tickets in hand and called through the crowd of muggles and wizards to hurry. Lily felt like she was going to keel over.

_What if I'm unrecognizable?_

_What if I AM recognizable?_

_Will they start spreading rumors?_

_Will they continue talking behind our backs?_

_What will the Marauders do?_

_Who will I be sitting next to on the Express?_

_Will they look at me any differently?_

_Will Jane be okay?_

_Will Alice be there? What if she doesn't arrive?_

_How will __**I**_ _be okay?_

"Lily! Snap out of it, let's get going." Mrs. Evans was already a few paces ahead of her, and Lily, against her own will, ran to her mum. The new glittery flats she wore sparkled against the hazy London sun and a few pointed stares her way made her chest flutter. Jane was attracting some double-takes too, and she blushed. She turned back to Lily and extended a hand.

_**We'll be okay. **_

Lily grabbed onto the hand and squeezed, before letting go. It was the little gesture that gave her reassurance and banished the panicky thumping of her heart, the short puffs of air and lightheadedness. She could overhear a few approving whispers as they made their way underground and she thanked Merlin no pervert had made a swipe at either her or Jane in the dimness of the stairwell.

After a rather eventful trip to Platform 9, young men deliberately bumping into or going up to Lily and Jane to flirt in the most obvious, cheesy ways that only B-rated romcoms contained, leaving Mr. Evans seething and Mrs. Evans scandalized ("The NERVE! As if they think we don't know what they're doing...bumbling fools!") they finally saw Alice. More like, she had actually found them, squealing up a storm and running toward them like a crazed monkey, Frank awkwardly standing and watching her embracing her two best friends with such a tight hug Jane's reply of "we missed you too, Alice" was muffled by Lily's thick red curls. Mrs. Evans and Mr. Evans laughed, wishing the three girls a safe trip, before they left. Immediately after, Alice burst forth in a literal explosion of words.

"OhmywordyoutwolookbeautifulandsowellputtogetherjustlikeIthoughtyouIneverdreamed.."("Wait, Alice, slow down!") "...thisdaywouldcomejustwaituntilmorepeopleseeyouit'llbesoamazingIamsopsyched.."

("Oi, Prewett, shut up for half a second!") "...Icouldn'twaittoseeyoutwoandthefuneralwasdepressingashellandIthoughtIwasgoingtodrowninboredom

("Alice, Alice!") "...atleastFrankmadethingsbetteryouhavetotellmeeverythingyoutwodidwithoutme-"

"ALLLLLIIICEEE!" Lily and Jane cried, exasperation spilling into her tone, "BREATHE!" Their voices echoed throughout the whole station, and made even worse by the fact there was not a train in sight to hide them.

That was enough to attract "The Attention"; witches and wizards and their parents falling silent as they stared, some gaping and others whispering furiously in hushed tones. Alice was smiling like a devil, and Lily blushed furiously, almost matching her hair color. Jane paled, looking around frantically and laughing nervously to a few underclassmen around her, who had their mouths open shamelessly.

Lily faked a smile and turned to Alice with mild fury.

"Oh my god, Alice, what if the damned Marauders see? Are you trying to get us killed?" Alice at least had the decency to look apologetic, and Lily sighed: "I missed you too, bloody hell, I have so much to tell you...first of all, I made Head Girl and Jane became Prefect. Can you believe it?" Alice's eyes widened in pleasant surprise and that's when Jane spotted something she did not want to see.

"Oh no. Oh no, no, no guys. It's THEM." Jane hid behind Lily and she blanched.

Sure enough, strutting in like they owned the whole goddamned place, the Marauders had just arrived, along with Darcy and Charlotte close behind. Darcy was beautiful even as she looked disgusted by the muggle parents she passed by, and Charlotte was literally draped over Sirius's arm, smiling her perfect, empty smile, and Sirius Black laughed heartily at something she said. James Potter was prodding Darcy's arm, pointing and snickering at another student, whose back was turned. Remus Lupin was saintly as always, telling James off, which earned him a slap on the back and another one from Peter Pettigrew for seemingly no reason but to copy James. Thankfully, their gazes weren't faced towards them yet.

"Chill, it's not like they can say anything to you guys anymore." Alice looked far too enthusiastic about the dire situation they were in, "Besides, I am so proud of you guys! Head Girl and Prefect, I guess I'll be seeing even less of you two than I already do." Alice mimed wiping a tear and sniffed, "my babies, moving onto bigger and better things."

Lily laughed, but stopped half-way through as if she was choking, because just out of her peripheral vision Declan damn-why-do-you-have-to-be-so-hot Parish was smiling. At her. Smiling. Perfect, blindingly perfect smile and hair and face and Alice had an eyebrow raised because Lily was obviously hyperventilating and Jane looked worried, thinking she had seen a ghost instead. "Lily?! Lily are you gonna die?!"

"Yes. Yes. What do I do?! It's Parish. HOLLLYYY...Alice, do I look okay?! Is he coming here. Is he still looking? Do I look like I'm normal?! Jane, please just tell me-"

"He's still looking. But everyone is. Okay, okay, just. Just be cool. Be perfectly normal." Jane smiled brightly, waving at a group of 6th year boys as an example and they immediately bumped into each other, fumbling, mumbling and drool hanging out of their mouths. Jane turned away in disgust.

"Never mind."

"Oh look! It's Thomas Brown." Jane's face turned to stone and she tried not to panic.

"Where."

"Five people to your right. I reckon he's talking to some of his bods, talking about you."

"Great."

"WAIT, ALICE IS PARISH STILL LOOKING?!" Lily wanted desperately to know if she looked alright, what they might be talking about, and if he liked her. Maybe she wanted a little bit to ask him herself.

"Calm down, Evans, you look splendid. Just bask in the glory."

Bask in the glory they did. As more people arrived, people OPENLY gaped and whispered, asking if they were new students, pointing fingers and jealous looks coming from girls as if they were satan's spawns to ruin their lives. A few seemed to recognize them, but not enough. Only a few brave souls were pushed from friends or dared to ask them for their names and numbers, and in the span of 5 minutes Jane and Lily had about 30 people each who had added them to their "would bang" list. A majority male, and a small pool of females. The amount of popularity they achieved was inhumane, and made their heads spin.

"Pinch me, I think I'm dreaming."

"If this is a dream, I kinda don't want to wake up."

"So surreal. If the Marauders come up to me next I swear…"

Surely enough, Alice jinxed it, and the Marauders were moving in on them.

* * *

**Marauder's POV**

"Is it just me, or is there more confusion than usual? Plus Evans and her crew are missing. I was hoping to catch them. Maybe they finally dropped dead."

James laughed and punched Sirius in the arm, but the boy was too busy squinting into the crowd, James using his finger to trace the path of his intense staring contest with…whoa.

James whistled, crouching in Sirius's position and balancing his head on his hand. The girl was blond, athletic, and mind-bogglingly hot. So **that's **what all the commotion was about.

"Blimey, what is your deal with blondes…Who you reckon she is? A veela?"

"Dunno, but I swear to god the thoughts going through my mind right now would wind up getting me dumped by Charlotte faster than the cheap makeup she abhors." Sirius mumbled, his "hot chicks" radar still fresh and working even after the long summer months. "Merlin, just look at the girl next to her. She's getting checked out by 50 different guys right about now, I feel it in my bones."

Sure enough, James focussed on a tall, blazingly hot red-head who had a hoard of boys sworming her like she was the second coming of Jesus and James quietly swore under his breath. He made a mixed sound of frustration and his eyes rolled back, rubbing his fingers into his eyeballs to rub away the nasty images in his head. He really didn't want to get horny now. He had Darcy to contend with if that happened, and she would be furious.

"The sexy ginger has to be a veela. I call dibs."

"You can't call dibs on a girl when you're in a relationship doofus."

"Sod off, you can call the blonde babe if you want."

"Fine, fine, deal. Wanna make a move on them?"

"I just don't want Darcy to see. She's gonna hex my arse to Mars."

"Same here with Charlotte, but she can't hex anything. What do we do?"

"Wait, wait. We gotta tell Lupin. Oi, Moony, get over here!"

Remus rolled his eyes and then instantly sobered once he caught sight of his two mates dreamily looking over at two girls, both of whom he instantly recognized. Lily Evans and Jane Mackenzie, looking completely different, and he almost couldn't believe his eyes of the dramatic change.

"Look, Moony, have you seen them before? They must be new, right?"

"Sirius, it's Lily and Jane."

"Hilarious, but seriously though, could you do something for us? Being the always faithful and wonderful lad you are, can you distract Darcy and Charlotte while we go...you know, check them out?"

"I'm not joking, Sirius, it's Lily and Jane. Don't they look a little familiar? Plus, they're with Alice Prewett, she's their friend."

"Psh, coincidence Remus my friend. My eyesight is crystal, and they are NOT Lily Evans and Jane Mackenzie. Completely, utterly different. Like...water and fire. Water is cold, and those girls are hot, like fire. No, I think you've gone loony Moony." James shook his head vehemently and Remus just stood there, completely unimpressed by his mates and especially by that soul-cringing analogy.

So Remus went ahead and asked Peter, knowing that he would agree with him.

"Peter, those girls over there, they're Lily Evans and Jane Mackenzie, right?"

"I think they're very pretty. I fancy them. Don't you think so too?"

"Yess…? But more importantly, do you think it's them or not?"

"No."

"Look, Peter, they look familiar can't you see? It's them, but they're just changed."

"I don't know. What do the others think?"

"They don't know either. At least, they don't think it's them."

"Ehhhh...I really can't see it, Remus. But I bet you're right anyhow."

Remus sighed, and left Peter to his own openly gleeful observation of the girls. He would just have to stick with distracting Darcy and Charlotte until they came back.

* * *

**5 minutes later**

James and Sirius were strutting over to Lily and Jane like arrogant peacocks, feathers blooming behind them, before they parted the crowd of boys like Moses parted the sea and introduced themselves (more like re-introduced themselves, since they were unaware the girls were indeed Evans and Mackenzie) before the flirting from hell went loose.

"Heeellllooo ladiess…" James ran a hand slowly through his hair and Lily was torn between looking ready to puke and looking ready to sock him in the face.

"What do you want, Potter." James winced, as if he had been slapped, and then frowned ("Since when am I so famous that hot girls know me before I know them?!")

"Come on, what could you not like about me? I'm James Potter! Gryffindor Quidditch Captain, drop the sour faces already, they don't look good on you girls." Sirius shook his head and hip-pushed him aside, before suavely taking the spotlight away from his embarrassingly unsuave friend.

"First things first, you don't force yourself on pretty girls like an arse, you be a gentleman and compliment their fine sense of style and beauty, because girls hate guys who show off too much in their presence, right?" Sirius was expecting the girls to fall to their knees squealing and in tears, but all he got was stony silence and horrified looks from the red-head and the blonde. Alice Prewett at least had the decency to look amused.

"So I see I have a hard crowd to impress, today, don't I? Well, I am Sirius seven-minutes-in-heaven Black, so you don't have to worry about that, don't you? Have I told you lately, DARLING," he took Jane's hand and lifted his eyes in a smoldering look that could've reignited old flames of passion and lust, "that your face is like that of an angel's, innocent, pure and beautiful as the rays of sunshine that pours from my soul whenever I look upon your...physique?" Sirius internally fist-pumped himself , finding the perfect word to finish off his sentence.

The blonde, which he politely did not ask her name for, was blushing so furiously it looked as if she was going to explode. Then, she started laughing, and Sirius's smile faded to angry denial.

"Right…" Jane had to remind herself that she really did just get flattered by Sirius's intense love montage and the thought made her want to laugh until the end of time, "right, okay, whatever you say, arse, but if you think that wins a girl over then I'm surprised how little you think of me." Sirius spluttered, ("I'll have you know that I have a fucking FANCLUB dedicated to me, young lady!") and then James hip-bumped him back into the shadows to takeover the shining spotlight chance to woo the fan-fucking-tastically hot redhead with his smooth moves.

"Get it together, Potter, now's your moment, you aren't dating Darcy Chester, on the Quidditch team, and Head Boy for nothing. You're a star." James muttered under his breath, within clear hearing distance of Lily, hilariously enough, and he pressed two fingers up under his glasses, smiling his classic heart-wrenching maiden-killing smirk of demons against the fairest of them all. Lily tried to hide a laugh by coughing into her fist and thinking about abused puppies.

"Hey, uh, beautiful. Is it just me, or is it HOT in here." Lily internally cringed. Not THAT line from the book of evils.

"Oh no, it's definitely hot. It's STEAMING hot." Sirius had rejoined after a few moments spent in denial-land, "SO DAMN HOT, MY HEART COULD BE MELTING." He pointedly looked toward Jane, willing his eyes to do the heart-stopping stormy eyes thing that made Charlotte bite her lower lip.

James bit his lower lip, but mostly from being interrupted by Sirius when he was going head-first into his own brilliant monologue, but he continued without another hitch, "As I was saying, it's pretty hot in here, and I think it's not just from the amount of people swarming your magnetic presence. I think it's because there's two supernaturally beautiful creatures standing in front of mere mortals, one a flamingly sexy spark from hell, and another an angel from the gates of heaven. I believe you know who I'm talking about here, don't you? If I could describe the sinful unfairness of the red hue of your hair, miss, it would take up 7 novels and be called 'the day James Potter played with fire' because you're DANGEROUS, and I like a DANGEROUS girl."

The fact James had mentioned two girls in his monologue but decidedly chose to focus on one Lily Evans made her stomach twist into knots of disgust. Leave it to fate to decide James to fancy the redhead, of all people. Poor Jane was stuck with a Sirius Black, her own worst enemy now trying to win her heart, made her stomach want to pack and leave.

Good thing she zoned out half-way through James's stupidly long flatterfest because once she got to the fact James had basically compared her to a devil all she could imagine was her in a skimpy devil's costume, complete with demon horns, tail and red trident and without another thought in her head, slapped James Potter clear across the face.

She was absolutely done. More people she had ever known existed had come up to her today flirting with her, and while she was flattered for maybe the first 15 minutes or so it quickly got old and all she wanted was for Declan Parish to sweep her off her feet, away from the stifling masses of eager prepubescent boys. Jane looked on as James stumbled back, shocked, and Sirius just chuckled and went back to goggling and trying to feel up Jane, failing miserably.

"YOU TWO!" Lily roared, calling back the attention of anyone 50 meters away, "JAMES AND SIRIUS, ARE THE MOST INSUFFERABLE BASTARDS KNOWN TO MAN. I **AM **LILY EVANS, AND THE GIRL YOU HAVE BEEN TRYING, AND MIND I SAY FAILING, TO FEEL UP IS JANE ANNE BLOODY MACKENZIE! BUGGER OFF, YOU SMARMY GITS!" Lily breathed hard, and not a second later the hoot of the Hogwarts Express interrupted her tirade, Alice hurriedly going back to Frank, and Jane standing dumbstruck next to a furiously impressed Black and a horribly embarrassed Potter.

"Wow, those two really did grow up over the summer, eh Prongs? Feisty." Sirius licked his lips and Jane had the most disgusted look on her face, grabbing hold of her luggage and slipping away like her life depended on it. Whether or not Black was still checking out her bum, she did not want to know.

"Bloody HELL, did I just actually chat up Lily Evans? ENGORGIO EVANS?!" James looked toward the ceiling, looking ready to cry, his palms planted over the spot she had slapped him, and then paled.

"OH MERLIN, I REALLY DID JUST FLIRT WITH HER. Murder me with a rusty blade, Sirius, I can't live with myself anymore. How could it have been her, she was gorgeous!" James looked ready to tear his hair out, and they had to quickly get it together or else miss the ride back to Hogwarts. At this point James was begging to not go.

He was very right.

* * *

Darcy Chester was smart.

She recognized Evans, surprised of course, but she did recognize her. She always knew she had to be pretty underneath all that muggle dirt, but she didn't expect her to change so...dramatically. She sneered, turning her attention back to Lupin who was desperately trying to steer clear of any mention of the chaos happening just across from them at the station, successfully distracting Charlotte from Sirius's blatant flirting and beloved James's desperate attempts to win over the mudblood.

Her perfect nails dug into her skin, willing her not to lose her cool. She pretended to listen, even as the train pulled into the station and she could hear Lily screaming in frustration.

"Lily, you didn't have to go yelling all over the damn station like that." Alice was giving her signature motherly look and it ticked Lily off, especially when it had to do with Potter and yelling, kicking and screaming at him was purely therapeutic to her frayed nerves.

"It's very unlady-like."

"You scared away half of your suitors!"

"James just lost his mother, yelling at him won't do any good for his heart."

"The Marauders didn't recognize you, I win. Hand over the money Evans."

"You tell me not to drag attention to yourself when its you doing all the work."

Lily grit her teeth as Alice pummelled her relentlessly, before waving her off to join "Frankie", AGAIN, in her compartment, wishing her luck with whoever sorry git was stuck with moody Lily for the entirety of the ride. Jane looked apologetic, and left with a tight hug and a "good luck" in Lily's direction, which at least helped a little to soften her mood, since angelic Jane was of course holding up strong despite having been almost violated by Sirius countless times.

"Alright, here goes nothing." She hauled her stuff to the Prefects compartment where all the Prefects were lounging around, talking excitedly about their summer. James Potter was there because the Remus Lupin was a Prefect. Sirius Black was off, probably snogging some girl and Peter was buying buying Chocolate Frogs from the trolley.

_"Oh my word, I'm not going to survive this trip if Potter is in the Prefects Compartment, I swear. Please, please spare me."_

Slowly, but surely, she made her way through the heavy crowd of people and tried to think good thoughts, like going back to Hogwarts and having her hours fill up with schoolwork and new spells. It at least soothed her for a little while, before the death march entrance to the door of the compartment. Soon Lily came face to face with her tormentor, and he threw his famous smirk in her direction.

At that moment, it took Lily all her strength not to hex that smirk off of his stupid face.

When she opened the door, the first thing she saw, upon a careful roaming of faces, was happy and surprised joy, before her heart LITERALLY plummeted into the depths of hell with no turning back.

JAMES. MATTHEW. BLOODY. POTTER.

Imagine an astonished face. Now mix that with pure agony, hurt, and exasperation. The face you pull when you are just...done. You have no words, no feelings, nothing. You just let it all go, all over your face, in one split moment, and in that moment the world seems to be laughing and rolling over, pointing at your face and MOCKING you, mocking you because James fucking Potter is Prefect and SURPRISE! You're Prefect too.

"That's it." Lily was about to pull out of the compartment, maybe open a window and jump out and die, or better yet, throw Potter out the window and let him die, because no WAY IN HELL were they going to survive a train ride to Hogwarts with him breathing down her neck or her seething in just barely contained fury.

"Can I just say, you look SO HOT when you're mad?" That comment almost did it for her.

"Alright Potter, you listen here.." The horrified looks of her classmates as they parted, her fists aparating to the collar of James's shirt, clenched so tight the knuckles were bloodless and white, "if you so much as utter, and I mean UTTER, a single, noncommittal noise that grates on my nerves the wrong way, I will, and I mean I WILL, murder you in cold blood and dump you in the lake with the mermaids. You got that? Oh and everyone else? Don't encourage him, or you can jump in the lake with him. UNDERSTAND?!" Lily flopped down into a seat, throwing her case into the overhead compartment, and stared daggers out at the blurring scenery outside.

"Why. Why me." She muttered, willing herself to drift off to sleep so that at least she didn't have to be reminded of James's face on her way back to Hogwarts.

At last, her wish came true.

* * *

"We should paint her face." Someone whispered, and a few snickers swam through the quiet air.

"Come on guys," James whisper/hissed back, a worried look on his face, "she said she'd kill us if we did anything, and let's be mature adults here."

"Says the one. Look, you are the KING of pranks, and you aren't making a move? What, you suddenly gone soft Potter?" A few more snickers, and James sighed. He had to admit, the comment kind of hit a sore spot. After all, he embarrassed himself a lot today and adding to that...yeah, he kind of felt changed, after this summer, because of-what happened.

"Oi, we're just kidding git. Don't be daft." James flipped them the finger, and then turned to admire Lily. Okay, so maybe she WAS an engorgio Evans, but she's not now. Hell, she's the furthest thing, and it was about time he grew up and became a gentleman. As Darcy would call it; "maturation". If that was even a word.

He spotted a blanket sticking out of her luggage and unclipped it to pull it out. Most of the other people were playing some card game and didn't notice James pulling the blanket over Lily's body, and then stepping away and feeling awkward because that was the sappiest shit he had ever did to a girl before. Would Darcy have liked him doing that? That sounded wrong.

There was a chorus of soft uuuuuu's, mostly from the girls, and cards were flung his way as he tried to make it back to his seat without being papercut to death.

"I thought you were hitched, Potter, now what's the deal with the cheesy move on Evans?" James sneered and they held up their hands in surrender.

"She looked cold and uncomfortable."

"UUUU cus you care dontcha, UUUUU."

"Shut uuup!" James hissed, burying his head in his hands. As if he cared, he could care less, for all he cared. Ugh caring was such a weird word. The sound of it made his stomach turn.

"K, whatever James. I wouldn't be surprised if you dumped that witch Darcy for Evans, now that she's hot you know, wouldn't that be a strange turn of events." James laughed, because even that was a stretch of the imagination, and wouldn't ever occur in his wildest dreams.

"Yeah, you wish Arnold. You're just jealous cus you can't get some of that yourself, right?" Arnold rolled his eyes, and the compartment when silent again, the trip to Hogwarts almost over by the time Lily awoke.

* * *

Her eyes opened slowly, the bleary images of people getting up and the hooting of the horn signalling the return to Hogwarts. Lily groaned and rubbed her sore head, and the blanket on her shoulders fell off, when she frowned and noticed that yes, she had a blanket around her and yes, James was surprisingly quiet even as he grabbed his stuff and smiled at her before leaving the door open.

It took about 10 seconds for her to connect the dots, and in those 10 seconds, she blushed and yanked her stuff out of the compartment as fast as she could. She didn't even spare Potter a single glance in his direction.

She joined Alice and Jane on the ground, both looking far more jovial than she was, but the fact she had been asleep, with notoriously mischievous Potter in the same compartment as her, made her more unsettled than normal.

"So who caused you to get your wand in knot ?" Alice took a sip from her expensively expensive bottle of water.

"James Potter." Alice gagged and sprayed water from her mouth onto Jane, who screamed, and Lily just stalked off without another word.

"Next time warn me before doing that shit, okay Evans?" Jane was laughing despite herself, and the corner of Lily's mouth pulled up. Even as she pushed past people, they gawked, and she knew that the next few days of term were either going to be a.) hell or b.) chaos. Neither of which seemed like good endings, but a little adventure never hurt a Gryffindor.

* * *

**Please leave some love! Review, follow or favorite. Thank you :D**


	9. Chapter 9

**Update: If you asked for more Jane/Sirius, here it is! Hope you like it...**

* * *

**Previously back on the Hogwarts Express...**

"Good luck, Lily. Don't hurt anyone too much, yeah?" Jane squeezed Lily as they broke apart from the hug and went their separate ways.

Jane took her suitcase and followed the mass of other students to open compartments, hoping to catch one empty so that she wouldn't attract unwanted attention from the other students on the ride back to Hogwarts. To be frank, she was exhausted after the ordeal with Sirius Black and wanted nothing more to do with flirting boys. And Alice's shenanigans, especially when she was around Frank. Jane shuddered.

Finally, she caught one and quickly claimed the space before anyone else could think about sharing it with her. There was a few heated whispers as she passed, and pointed looks in her direction. She slipped by quietly, ignoring them, and sat down in her seat with a puff of air escaping her mouth. The train started moving, and Jane looked out the window as the scenery blurred into colors and vague shapes. For the moment, it was peaceful in the silence and she closed her eyes.

After what seemed like an indeterminate amount of time, there was a small sound that snapped her out of her doze and she blinked her eyes open to see one Sirius Orion Black standing at the door of the compartment, one arm bent and supporting his leaning body, a smirk painted across his features. Jane startled, before sighing and running a hand through her hair.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She couldn't hide the frightened part of her that realized he may have been staring at her sleeping. "Please, just go away…"

"Look, I know we got off on the wrong foot, but just give me a chance to explain." Sirius lifted himself off in one clean motion and sat himself down next to her, arms crossed. Jane rolled her eyes back, her mouth twisted in an ugly grimace and bent her head back against the seat cushion. She did NOT have time for this nonsense.

"Splendid, this'll be fun to hear…"

"Okay, okay, I know what you think. "Womanizing Mr. Black, getting all the ladies, but I'm gonna be hard-to-catch", yeah? I know your types."

"What do you WANT Sirius? Don't you have a girlfriend? I'm not exactly your type nor do I want to be. Your apology is wasted on me."

Sirius sighed, and looked genuinely frustrated by Jane's refusal. He wasn't used to being turned down so many times in one-go, but he could do this.

"Those times, you know, before the change, I didn't...I didn't really MEAN any of those things I said. I was just trying to have fun."

"At the expense of others? If you think you can redeem yourself by regretting your choice of 'fun' now, you're just proving yourself to be more of an empty-headed, mindless jackarse than before you stepped foot in this compartment."

Jane was furious that Sirius could even think for a second that a sorry apology like that was fair to her. It was demeaning.

"Look, you made my life hell for 5 whole years! Saying sorry is not going to cut it, you're gonna have to EARN my forgiveness. "

"You want me to earn it? I can do that." Sirius leaned in far too close for comfort, and Jane inched away. "I'm not a bad person, Jane, our first impression wasn't exactly fair. I- I'm not who you think I am." Sirius looked back at the door of the compartment, as if his little confession was suddenly announced over loudspeakers.

"I'm a good person, and I want you to trust me. Since our interactions...weren't exactly...good I suppose, so we should start over. As maybe, friends. At least let's start with that?" Sirius looked pleading, and Jane had to admit the look was strange on a face that she usually saw was clear of any weakness. She narrowed her eyes, and glared.

"What makes you think I should trust you now? I bet you've had this conversation with every girl on this train at least once and look where you are now. If you can take a hint, the only good end to this conversation will be pointing you to the door. Now." Sirius shrugged, and seemed to admit defeat for once, since pushing it too far meant breaking the steady balance they had established in those few moments.

"Right. But you're wrong about me, Jane. Give me a chance. I may have picked up a lot of girls, but they're nothing compared to you. You're SPECIAL." He spoke the word as if it was sacred, and Jane lifted a perfect eyebrow, inhaling deeply and exhaling on a "wow, I can't believe this."

"Consider it? I've got to get back to Charlotte, she'd be freaking out." Jane was silent, and Sirius was about to say a final, bitter farewell before Jane finally spoke up.

"By the way, how the hell did you find me here?"

Sirius stopped, and smirked.

"Had to search every compartment. Finally some girls tipped me off where you were, and here I am." Sirius turned away, but at the last second, popped his head back in, "Oh and Jane? You look heavenly when you sleep." Jane's mouth fell open, and with a snicker, he left.

* * *

**Now, in the Great Hall**

"Ugh, the funeral was just as depressing as I thought it would be; I don't think I even remember half the things that happened, I was so out of it. I just couldn't make myself look at Potter, plus Black was there and…" Alice waved the air in front of her, a distasteful look on her face. "Bloody depressing as hell, that's all I can say."

Lily was peeking at a slice of pumpkin pie from the corner of her eye and willed herself to look away, for all she was worth. She nodded, and Jane laughed as Alice mimed smooching Frank rather intensely and then realized with a sudden start that there was no sharp comments flying their way, no harsh laughter behind their backs, and that all eyes were on them not because they were mocking but because they were appreciative. Maybe some were bitter, but she could've sworn more than a few boys may have been eying her like she had been eying the savory pie in her periphery.

Lily coughed and Jane looked over, Lily gesturing to the hall around them that, just last summer, housed the nightmarish scene of Jane's demise. Instead of the classic gossiping and pranks that were rained upon them, there was almost red-carpet worthy attention focussed on them, like they were new students, but thankfully no one had made an embarrassment of themselves by asking them on dates, like back at Platform 9 ¾.

"You two listening? I was just telling you about my date with Frank." Alice seemed offended that they were more focussed on the people whistling loudly in their direction. Alice flipped her finger at them and that's when Dumbledore took center-stage, pulling everyone's attention away from the simmering chaos and toward his booming voice of welcome, for returning students and new students alike.

It was the same old speech, and Lily's eyes wandered to the Marauder's table, where James was snuggled up against Darcy, close enough they might as well have been sitting on each other's lap, and Sirius and Charlotte (no surprise there) were FURIOUSLY making out, someone hissing "get a broom closet" made them pull apart enough to look decent. Jane seemed to have the same idea and they both gagged, Lily turning back to focus on Dumbledore as he explained the purpose of the sorting hat. She smiled, remembering the moment she had been sorted in Gryffindor being the happiest moment she could remember in the dark days that followed her once the bullying started.

Jane was focussed elsewhere, her eyes still lingering coldly on Sirius, whose face was buried in her ear and was making Charlotte giggle endlessly, the sound echoing and bouncing around the walls, into her ears and making steam rise from her nostrils. The sound was infuriating, especially when he seemed pretty keen earlier on being "friends".

"_I'm a good person, and I want you to trust me. Since our interactions...weren't exactly...good I suppose, so we should start over. As maybe, friends. At least let's start with that?"_

That ace arsehole was expecting them to be friends, to banish away the past 5 years like magic, yeah well like HELL that was going to happen. HE could just go to hell, that son of a-

"GRYFFINDOR!" Roars of approval rised from the Gryffindor table as another girl joined the table and the sorting hat did its job, and Jane just slumped. Lily must've had it way worse than her, being stuck Head Girl with James Potter. That was like asking for murder to happen, and the THOUGHT of all the endless flirting was enough to drive her insane, more so than when they bullied them. The flirting was cute for maybe the first five seconds, but more than that was enough to drive them both up the wall. The only way to stop it, or at least cease some of the catcalls, was to get boyfriends.

Before they knew it, everyone was off to their dormitories, and Alice vanished without a word to join Frank, leaving Lily and Jane stranded in a sea of bodies and they recognized McGonagall gathering prefects to help guide the new students to their respective rooms. Lily said a quick goodbye and Jane was separated from her.

The new group of students looked nervously at Lily, but she calmly led them away from the huge crowd of people and was open enough to joke with some of them as she gave a short little tour. Until.

Oh no.

Thomas Brown was straight in front of her and she barely had enough time to whirl on her feet, only to just her luck, bump face-first into...Declan Parish?! Oh hell no.

"Oh uhm sorry excuse me kids, uh change of plans-sorry about that hehe thanks goodbye!" Parish smiled and Lily's heart rabbited in her chest, to the beat of "notgoodnotgoodnotgood" as the 10 years olds around her just frowned and whispered amongst themselves, not helped by the fact Jane was still blushing like a tomato and mumbling under her breath. Once Lily finds out about this, she'll freak.

Not far off, James watched the scene unfold from from his spot rooted in front of "Minnie", her voice carrying as she scolded him for his lewd displays of affection with Miss Chester, his fists clenched and his mouth set in a taut line, the thought of Parish and Lily making contact like nails against chalkboard in his brain.

"Are you listening, Mr. Potter?! One more time and it's detention with me, for five weeks straight young man." Sirius rolled his head back and said an "alright, alright, I get it" before McGonagall closed her mouth and then sighed.

"If you ever need me, you know where to find me, James. You and Sirius."

James's head snapped up after that, but McGonagall was already sweeping out of the hall. If this had to do with what he thought that had to do with…

He sighed, and tried to not feel betrayed by Minnie and Lily all in one day.

* * *

…"Okay, so on the train he tried inconspicuously putting a blanket on my shoulders as if I wouldn't notice and slice his head clean off his shoulders for that and now I know he's just trying to win me over with cheesy moves. Like ugh, why can't Declan Parish just ask me out already? I'm dying here, I'm DESPERATE."

"You're desperate?! It's time for **US** to start flirting with our crushes if we're going to survive here. I had Sirius Black begging to be friends with me, bollocks."

"Wait... Sirius Black? That's a big deal. If he's already asking to be friends with you I'm willing to bet he just wants to hook up with you after he's dumped Charlotte. Since you're like his next best thing."

"I don't WANT to be the next best thing, hell, I just need Brown to come up to me once, just ONCE and I'll be saved from the disaster than is Black trying to be nice, because once he notices I fancy someone else he's bound to back off. He only goes after my looks, that's it."

"Aye, I'm on your side too Jane, any Marauder coming near me will probably die an ugly death, and they won't live to see another day if it's in class. I already warned Potter on the train, if he wants to flirt, go ahead, fine by me, but just know that he'll probably end up choking on a mermaid's tail after I dump him in the lake."

Jane laughed, and that's when Alice flopped in, right on her bed, one of those fancy eye-covers on her forehead, leopard print silk pajama shirt and pants, and her hair left down all the way to her waist. She looked tired, without all the makeup on, and yawned, snapping the eye-cover thingamajig on her face and sighed.

"What's gotten into you Prewett?"

"If that's supposed to be some sick innuendo, then you can go to hell Evans."

"It wasn't, but thanks for the laugh. You look oddly...content."

"Fuck yeah I am! Hogwarts, my girls, Frank, what more could I ask? It's been a wonderful summer and now we're back. Aren't you two glad you have a friend like me?"

Jane and Lily looked at each other, equal parts amused and exasperated.

"Of course, Alice."


	10. Chapter 10

**YAY CHAPTER 10 UPDATE! Longest chapter yet. Please enjoy~~**

* * *

Morning dawned upon the students of Hogwarts and the new day brought chaos in the girls dormitories.

"Hurry up Lily!" Alice screamed for Lily to get out of the shower.

"And don't use all of the hot water either!" Jane cried.

Once all the girls had taken their showers Alice waltzed around the room handing them different beauty products and shouting pieces of advice at them of how to handle their new found popularity.

" Jane, I want you to put the silver on your eyelid and sweep the lower lash line with the

light purple on your lower lash line to bring out the color of your eyes."

Jane rolled her eyes and did exactly what Alice said knowing better than to argue with Alice.

"And remember girls be CONFIDENT! You look at that bitch Darcy and let her know that you won't let her intimidate you guys anymore. And if those stupid wankers annoy you just throw a bat bogey hex in their direction. God knows they need to reduce the side of their egos cuz their egos will give Mt. Everest competition, if the wankers continue to think that they rule everyone in this school. And most importantly please remember you can seduce anyone in the whole school except Frank cuz he's mine BITCHES"

Lily rolled her eyes and said "BUUUUUUUUUT Aaaaaaaaallllllllllicccccceeeeee, he's such a hunk. In fact, do you think you could, I don't know, share him with me."

Alice smiled dangerously at Lily and Jane sensing a friendly cat fight between her friends, saying loudly "Hey guys would you look at the time, classes start in a half hour. We should be going down to breakfast now, don't you think girls?

Alice glared at Lily while Lily goodnaturely said "Sheesh Alice, It was a fucking joke! I wonder how does Frank breathe when his girlfriend is so damn overprotective of him!" Alice was just about to reply with a witty comment when Jane had had enough of their bantering and decided to drag them down stairs to breakfast.

They hurried down to the Great Hall and the smell of food brought hungry smiles to their faces. Lily and Jane were thankful that their bed-heads were gone and the hour long preparation worked to their advantage when people started talking about them the minute they walked into the Great Hall, laughing and excited about their first day back. The downside was, they were starving, and Alice wouldn't shut up about it.

It was a peaceful morning, people chatting over their meals and Alice, Jane and Lily took their customary seats at the Gryffindor table, grabbing this and that, and if either Jane or Lily dared even sneak a calorific snack into their hands Alice would slap it away like a mother would to a child with a jar of of cookies. Ever the disobedient child, Lily would grumble about and if Jane had learned anything from the few weeks stuck with a food-deprived Lily it was to comfort her with her own starvation. Jane would share a piece of whatever she would be eating if it made her feel better. In the end, both would probably develop lighter appetites to fit their new bodies.

They continued the same conversation as yesterday night, Alice now having put her own input on the meeting with Declan Parish with Jane and the future of her two best friends.

"I'll hook you up. Don't you worry about that. A good word in here, a compliment about your bum there, and Thomas Brown will be unconsciously falling to their knees for you." Alice said around a mouthful of buttered toast. Lily only narrowed her eyes at the fact Alice could eat whatever she wanted and still be gloriously skinny.

"What about MY Potter fiasco? Should I kill him or not?" Alice stopped chewing and rolled her eyes so far back she could've seemed like those horror movie zombies with all whites to their eyes. "Merlin, Evans, can't you see he could HELP you? Your popularity is already skyrocketing, and now that he's Prefect with you…" Alice lowered her voice so that the people around her couldn't hear, "he'll dump Darcy from all the pressure, and then he'll be single. Most people are already throwing in their bets that you'll be replacing her, however unlikely the circumstances, then SNAP!" Alice crashed her hands together, making Lily and Jane jump back, "Declan Parish will be asking you out faster than a cheetah with rocket-boosters and James will stand no chance of stopping him. It's the competition law of boys, once THE guy dumps a girl to be with THE girl, all the boys will be tripping over themselves to be the one to steal THE girl away from THE guy. Simple." Alice took another monstrous bite of toast and Jane and Lily just stared at their hands, wondering what the hell Alice just meant by all that.

"Forget I asked…" Lily curiously looked over to the Marauder's side, rowdy with obnoxious laughs as usual, but to her surprise, Sirius and Charlotte were missing.

"What?"

Upon closer examination, James seemed more subdued than usual, and why that was true Lily had no idea. It must have been a massive beating from McGonagall, perhaps weeks of detentions, and Lily cheered internally imagining the amount of chalk dust they'd have to clean up.

"Hey Jane, reckon you know where Sirius could've gone?" Jane paused thoughtfully, and then smirked.

"Probably to skip breakfast in order to stick his tongue into his OTHER tasty treat, if you know what I mean." Lily did, and thankfully declined to comment on Jane's wording as her stomach turned at the images.

"Well," Alice brushed off her hands and stood up, Lily and Jane already knowing where she would go without even asking, "off to see Frank. Tell him to watch out for two girls who plan to corrupt him, poor bastard." Lily stuck her tongue out and Alice strutted away to the Ravenclaw table leaving Lily and Jane behind.

"Do you think think Alice would notice if I ate this buttered toast?" Jane and Lily looked towards the Ravenclaw table where Alice was engaged in deep conversation with Frank Longbottom, it looked like she was drinking up every word he was saying.

"Blimey" Jane said with an amused glint in her eyes "I could literally cut up the sexual tension over there with a knife." Lily laughed, picking up the toast anyways and stuffing it in her mouth as nonchalantly as possible and then frowned.

"Jane. Jane. Jane." Her eyes widened by miniscule marks by the second. "Jane Mackenzie, I have not studied a word for any of my classes since last week. NOT A WORD. What will Slughorn think of me? Oh dear, I'm already set up for failure in half my classes! I've been so worried about my looks that I haven't caught up with any of the material for school at all. WHAT WILL I-"

"Stop. You'll be fine, It's only first day of term. You can always catch up in your spare time, and being Lily Evans you'll catch up. Don't stress yourself out too much, Miss Head Girl." Jane bumped shoulders with a pale as a sheet Lily and she gulped, trying to force the horrific 2am caffeine-riddled pieces of parchment just waiting to jump and suffocate Lily once the workload started to build up.

"Ugh, you know what Jane. We have been focusing so much on our looks that we have forgotten to focus on the reason we come to Hogwarts in the first place... TO LEARN. So I say we put our plan to have boyfriends on hold until we ace all of our courses. And I also say today we go all out and have a ginormous study session. What do you say Janey?"

"I say amen to that."

They high-fived and received weird looks for their enthusiasm. Just then Alice came sprinting towards them. "OmgguyssoguesswhatIjustsaw *insert deep breath here*CharlotteDawsonwascryingoffherfaceinthegirlsbathroomYOUKNOWWHATTHISMEANSRIGHTJANEANNEMCKENZIE?

"ALICE CALM DOWN!" Jane said loudly in a worried voice. Alice looked like she was going to need an oxygen tank. When Alice had managed to calm herself down she smirked and had that evil glint in her eye. "I think that the surname Black would go very well with your name Jane." Jane blushed furiously and muttered something about her diary.

Not a minute after Jane's response Alice's gossip had flown across half the Great Hall and it was time to get to class. The hoards of people were flurrying about, whispering hurriedly and in excited spurts about Sirius breaking up with Charlotte. Whether or not it was true it had to be the only reason unless it had to do with cheap makeup, the other thing Charlotte could be crying about. Losing Sirius was her worst nightmare, it didn't take a genius to know that. Lily looked concerned in Jane's direction, but she just looked blankly ahead, avoiding the questions of a few people around her.

"It's probably HER, he dumped Charlotte for, right?"

"There's no way she's gonna fall for him after everything".

"Merlin I don't blame him for dumping her, I'd dump my girlfriend if I ever had a shot with her.

Even James seemed startled by the news, and he was best mates with Black. Could he have possibly known about his break-up beforehand, when he looked so confused now? It was a wonder what was going on in his head right now, and Darcy just sneered as a couple students bumped into her as they were coming out of the Great Hall. James was going on about Quidditch and Darcy found herself zoning out of the conversation and thinking about the "New Girls."

Yes, Darcy felt quite intimidated by the new girls now. Today Sirius had just broken up with his girlfriend for the little mudblood, surely soon enough James would do the same to her soon enough. No mentally scolded herself for thinking such a stupid thought. Sirius must have grown tired of her stupidness. 'Yes' she told herself, but James will never grow tired of me. I have everything he could ever want.

"See ya sweetheart," James pressed a kiss to her mouth and she was comforted for a minute. No, Potter couldn't break up with her. She'd ENSURE that.

"Goodbye, James. Say hi to Sirius for me." James nodded and went off, Darcy staring holes into his back. She had to keep a careful eye out for herself, and for James. She didn't want any filthy mudbloods getting their hands on him.

Lily groaned at the gross display of public affection from James and Darcy, her icy cold gaze flickering for half a second in her direction, daring her to judge. Well, fuck. Lily was itching to hex her from where she stood but Darcy was already sweeping out of the Hall, her equally as pompous cronies gathering around her like some messed-up clique.

Just then out of the blue, Sirius Black swept into the Great Hall as the girls were about to leave for the first class of the day...potions.

* * *

**Marauder's POV**

Blasted buggering hell.

Sirius hadn't been this worn out since...since a while. He really had just done that, done the dreaded deed, and it felt like a weight was lifted from his shoulders. He wouldn't have to worry about Charlotte breathing down his back, and he could get back to the business at hand. Jane Mackenzie.

It should've been dread, maybe if it was Darcy, but Charlotte was delicate and really didn't know much to seek revenge, so a few weeks should be enough to set her back to normal. He felt bad, sure, she was a nice girl in the end, but now his entire being, his entire existence was fixed on the fact he had to get Jane to like him, just the tiniest bit. He was like walking amortentia for god's sake, he'd eventually win her over. No woman could possibly resist him for so long. The hard-to-get ones were always the fun challenges he liked unraveling.

Jane was...she was pretty. Yes, hell he made some fucking BAD commentary in the past about her, and just thinking about it made him cringe, but he was a changed man. After James's mum died, it made him realize how much of an arse he really had been, and while he hated admitting it, because it was hard changing the thought-process of an arse in one summer. So he vowed to change one by one, girl by girl, starting with Jane Mackenzie, because someone sure did a number on her to get her so drop-dead gorgeous. He had also felt bad about the way he teased her relentlessly about her abuse at home when his own family used to abuse him before he moved in with the Potters. He knew that she would not forgive him so easily but he had to try.

"Sirius!" Oh no, not the fanclub again.

There they were, apparating from nowhere, 50+ something frantic young girls all swarming him like moths to a flame. They were the most obsessed of them all, having had thrown themselves in his path again, like sacrificial lambs, to be his new girlfriend only seconds after he had dumped Charlotte, and how they knew, he had absolutely no-fucking-idea. It was as if every girl had cameras trained on him or something.

"Hello there ladies, I'm just going to the great hall to get myself ummm an apple. I'll see you in class." He said winking to a curvy blonde with 50 pounds of makeup on her face. She swooned at him.

A girl with a pink hair band and flouncy dirty brown hair did a rather great rendition of a tiger purring and Sirius almost choked, the sound startling. "MMMM catchya later Sirius. I love you." She mouthed and a few girls were biting their bottom lips, making approving noises that were horrifying in their intent.

"Yeah! Catch you ladies later." And with that he ran as far as he could away from his obnoxious fan club.

"Omg, he just said yeah to me. He just…" The girl with the pink head-band swayed, before collapsing, making the people beside her gasp and yelp with surprise.

Sirius smirked, and tried to focus on a head of glorious blond hair when he caught sight of Jane, before grabbing an apple, throwing it up and catching it experimentally, biting down on a crunch as easily as if he was sleeping, finally catching Jane's attention away from the masses of people.

"Well if it isn't Jane Murder-my-bloody-arse Mackenzie, how're you on this fine day my darling?"

Jane blushed furiously.

'Oh my god' Sirius thought 'She looks so adorable when she blushes.'

Alice elbowed Jane to continue and to be honest the three of them were blocking traffic just standing there gawking. What the hell had gotten into them?

"Why so cheery Black? Didn't you just dump your girlfriend?" Lily Evans put her hands on her hips. So CHEEKY. And informed. Hm. Must've been the Prewett girl's doing.

"Why yes I did, my dear Lily Flower. However I don't want you lovely ladies going around thinking that I _dumped _Charlotte, I like to think of our breakup to be more of a mutual thing."

("Lily Flower...what a joke." Evans muttered.)

"Mutual?" Alice interjected looking pointedly at Sirius. "Your breakup wasn't MUTUAL. The poor girl spent all of breakfast crying in the bathroom. "

"Don't be mistaken, Alice, but we were both heartbroken. I'm sure she'll be better in the future, all broken hearts mend in the end, don't they? I'm sure she can understand." The words were directed towards Jane, who was making an effort focusing to look everywhere but at Sirius Black.

"I took your words to heart Jane. I thought, 'maybe Charlotte isn't worth it after all' and will you look at that? I realized something. She really wasn't. It was bound to go all to waste anyways, it's a shame, she was a great girlfriend." Chatter chatter chatter, but Sirius was slowly urging Jane to speak up, acknowledge him. Alice Prewett seemed to be getting his drift at least.

"Uhhh...we'll be going. Yeah, yeah come on Evans, let's go." She grabbed Lily and pulled, Lily's mouth set in a vicious line, warning Black to back off for all Sirius was worth. If she was going to make him leave, she'd have to do more than that.

Jane's eyes positively shown in the light, little specks of violet, and blinked. Well, she was looking at Sirius now, and he could've died and gone to heaven with the way those eyes seemed to bore into his soul. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed the color before.

"Jane, my darling you have the most beautiful color of eyes. They are so pure and innocent. I truly believe now that the eyes are the windows of the soul. With your eyes I can see your soul. It's pure and sweet."

"Thanks." Curt, but playful. Okay then.

"And should I say, your words flatter me, but you can you try not just care about the way I look? Blimey, you are so superficial."

"Your...demeanor...is so…nice? You make me realize how sweet you are, never the center of attention, and always so modest. Your angelic personality is what draws me towards you. Your hard shell is like that of an oyster, hiding a beautiful pearl on the inside. It takes an experienced hand to pry you open, gently." Jane had an eyebrow perked up in a 'Is Sirius even serious right now' kind of look. It wasn't a bad start.

"Thats really sweet, I guess." Jane blushed. Wait, "PRY HER OPEN GENTLY?!"

"I-I mean, I mean like...you have a hard shell, and I'm gonna crack it." Where did smooth Sirius go? Where? And how could he get him back? Maybe he should focus on her looks after all.

"Ummmmmm I got to get to class, I'll see you later?" And with that Jane hurried out of the Great Hall and made her way to the dungeons.

That went positively awful, and he didn't even get to say his classic "Aw women, can't live with them, can't live without them" line that always saved his arse in the past with the hard-to-gets. Jane just got him all confused. Made more difficult by the fact she was a constant example of how much of a royal screw-up he was in the past.

Well, he wasn't going to let that get to him. He was better than that, he was better than fire whiskey Sirius Black, the woman's man. Strutting out of the Great Hall, his female posse of fangirls following him down to the dungeons, his heart regaining more strength as he pushed open the door and stopped dead in his tracks.

Jane Mackenzie was already seated with Lily Evans. Everyone was chatting amicably before he walked in, his appearance stopping conversation as he took his seat, Slughorn talking to Evans excitedly about something, and James woke him from his dreamy stare of Jane with a slap to his back. Sirius made his way to James' table and sat down. Professor Slughorn looked at James and Sirius sitting next to each other and gave a booming laugh. "I don't think so boys" he told them pointedly. James and Sirius knew exactly what he was talking about. Last year Professor Slughorn had let them chose their own seats and potions was a disaster that year. Sirius and James kept flicking wrong ingredients into other peoples cauldrons causing their potions to explode which caused tons of mayhem as usual.

"I will be assigning your seats this year. Ahhhhh let's see now... Snape and Patil, Lupin and Brown, Dean and Weasley, Smith and Bass, McKenzie and Potter, Lovegood and Longbottom, Prewett and Parkinson, Malfoy and Lestrange, Miss Black and Parish, Avery and Crabbe, Goyle and Wood, and last but not least Mr Black with Evans.

Some people were ecstatic about their new seats and others were groaning with disappointment. Sirius was all to happy about his brand new seating arrangement. I mean he was with Lily and she was hot. He won't flirt with her though, prongs would have his head.

"Okay class, welcome back from summer. Let's get started with an exciting potion that all of you will love, haha, called Amortentia. Can anyone tell me what this potion is?"

Lily had her hand in the air, and recited it straight from memory. "Amortentia is the strongest love potion in the world, creating a strong aroma that greatly appeals with any individual who smells it, different combination of scents that are attractive for each person who takes a waft of the potion, and drinking it will lead to a strong obsession and volatility to a person, but not love. Amortentia mimics the behavior of love, but must not be confused with real love. It's a clear liquid with a distinct shine, mother of pearl sheen."

"Excellent explanation Miss Evans. Take 10 points for Gryffindor. Amortentia is indeed the most potent love potion in the world, that creates distinct combinations of attractive scents to anyone who smells it, and drinking it will lead to immediate infatuation with a person, but must not be confused with love at all. One must drink it continually for the effects to last, but it is a fun potion indeed to make and I'm sure you young folks would _love_ having a go at it, right?" He got a few chuckles his way, and began giving his instructions and listing the ingredients for the potion on the chalkboard in the front of the room.

After the demonstration, the students scattered to get materials and the Black/Evans Potter/Mackenzie duos silently got their things. The tension between the two was palpable, and each pair was hesitant to mention the elephant in the room.

* * *

James started first, startling Jane so much she almost dropped one too many rose thorns in their cauldron.

"So, um, you're a girl. What do...girls like?" Jane looked mystified by the question, and James reckoned she would be wondering "why would Potter be asking me when he had a girlfriend to ask with plenty of preferences herself?"

"Depends on the girl. Why might you ask?" James coughed, and Jane noticed he was blushing. Well, might as well spill. She may or may not have had a tiny inkling of what he may be referring to. Or WHO, for that matter.

* * *

"Okay, Evans, let's put aside our differences for a second and talk."

"About what Black? I don't know what you're going off about. Just focus on the potion."

"Don't be daft, you know exactly what I mean. Look, I know this is a strange circumstance we're stuck in, but work with me here."

"If you mean it has anything to do with the past 6 years, then you can go to hell. Jane and I aren't interested in a wishy washy apology from you arseholes. Especially after the last day of school."

"Hey, I get it. I want to change though. I need help doing that, and funny I should be asking you, after terrorizing you for so long. But this means I really want it, don't I?" Lily almost pricked her finger on a rose thorn she was so angry, but Sirius was silenting willing her to give up and help him.

"What's it to you? You want to be with Jane don't you? Or are you just tired of seeing Charlotte everyday that you dumped your girlfriend and are talking to ME so you can get love advice on how to get with a guy? Gonna come out to me then?" Sirius snapped his head up and blushed furiously.

"What the fuck, Evans?! What are you talking about?"

"James, silly, god knows what you two do all day in the same house. Tell me, is he a good kisser? As good as Charlotte?"

'Oh my God' Sirius wanted to puke up the remains of the apple that morning 'remind me why I chose to talk to her again?',

"Wouldn't you be interested to know Evans, holy moly Lily Flower you just asked me if I thought James is a good kisser. Have you been fantasizing about kissing him then? But Evans sorry to disappoint but I couldn't tell you the answer to that cuz I don't swing that way.

Lily smirked, unfazed. "Could've fooled me, you and James always getting matey in the corners. Well, time will tell." The potion was finished, and she stepped back.

* * *

"It's about Lily." After a long minute of silence, Jane frowned. She suddenly smiled though, mouthing an 'ohhh' and chuckled. "You mean you fancy Lily Evans? I didn't think you'd really stand a chance though, Potter. Sorry." James hissed a 'shhh' and sighed.

"I know, that's why I need you help." Jane stayed quiet and added the moonstone to the cauldron. "I messed up, you know, badly, but I want to do better. After Lily changed, I realized she's a...really nice girl. And Merlin, if Darcy ever hears of this, you can't tell her anything, but I...fuck...I really fancy Lily. I really, REALLY do, and maybe if we could...be friends, then I could stand a chance with her. Even if she won't take me." Jane was smiling clandestinely at the cauldron, schooling her features into something amused when she was maybe SLIGHTLY touched by Potter's words, but she knew better than to trust James's every word. So she listened and shrugged.

"It depends on what you're going to give in return. You seem earnest, but you know, 6 years of torment does something to someone's trust, plus she already fancies someone else. So, being her friend and everything, I would kindly suggest you stick with Darcy and if you know any better Potter, stay away from Lily. I don't think she'd take your words as nicely as I would, trust me."

Slughorn went around the room examining each of the potions. "Mr. Snape and Ms. Patil what a brilliant amortentia, Ms Patil could there be any way you are related to Anupam Patil, he is the owner of the largest potioneering business in India." Pooja nodded slightly pink. "Well then Ms Patil, I'm having a small get together the night before Halloween surely you would like to come." Pooja nodded and Professor Slughorn turned to Snape. "You must join her too, Mr. Snape after all you are one of the most talented potioneers in the country."

However, not everyone made Professor Slughorn so happy. When he reached Peter and Pamela's potion it wasn't even close to what it was supposed to be. The potion was muddy brown in color and gave the odor of the things that each individual hates.* "Did you two not read the instructions? It said that after you add the sprigs of lavender you are supposed to stir clockwise. When you stir clockwise it gives the scent of what attracts us the most. I can bet on Merlin's gold cradle that you stirred counterclockwise. What a shame, this potion gets a D."

When Slughorn reached James's and Jane's potion he clapped his hands. "Nicely done, this potion gets an Exceeds Expectations. Mr. Potter, how are your parents? Yes I know them, taught them myself when they were at Hogwarts. Your father was quite the potions prodigy." James was trying to politely nod at everything Slughorn said. Slughorn then turned his attention on Jane who was one of his regular favorites. "Jane m'dear! Almost didn't recognize you at all deary. My oh my look at how much you have grown over the summer. I think you look absolutely lovely dear girl. Say how would you like to come to my small dinner party right before Halloween?" Jane quickly agreed, she felt like she sort of owed Slughorn. He was one of the few teachers that didn't turn a blind eye to the bullying she had been facing. James also agreed because he thought Lily was gonna be there.

Slughorn then came around Lily and Sirius' potion. His face lit up. "Ladies and Gentlemen we have a clear winner. Mr. Black you certainly proved your heritage from this potion. Are you sure you are supposed to be in Gryffindor, you would make a fine Slytherin. And Ms. Evans you have truly outdone yourself today. I expect to see you both at my dinner party. Sirius wasn't really in the mood to go and make himself look like a bigger fool in front of Jane but he had no time to protest as Slughorn began to call everyone to come around their potion and get a good smell of it. He then proceeded to ask every person in the class what they smelled.

Sirius took a deep breath and inhaled the contents of the potion. He smelled treacle tart, grass, chocoballs, sugar quills, his cologne, and lavender? In fact the lavender was so strong it brought him to a direct image of Jane's lavender coloured eyes. He sighed and slumped back in his chair. Pondering an extremely important question... Will Jane ever stop hating him?

When Lily smelled the potion she smelled all of her favorite things. She was however slightly confused as she couldn't smell anything but what she liked. Wasn't amortentia supposed to smell of things that attracted you? She raised her hand and Slughorn called on her. In the most charming voice she said "Sir I can only smell everything I love not what attracts me."

Slughorn nodded and said " M'dear, that only means you don't have anyone that you are deeply attracted to yet. Don't worry dear, the day will come when you will also smell something different in your amortentia. However Ms Evans you bring up an excellent point. How strong the amortentia smells to each person is an indicator of what degree they are in love with their soulmate. If one hasn't found their soulmate yet, they will only smell a light pleasant smell of everything they love. However if one is in love with their soulmate amortentia will smell a lot stronger to that individual and in one way or another remind the individual of their significant other. Lily, your amortentia is just telling you that you haven't fallen in love with your soulmate yet.

Through this whole lecture James could smell the scent of tulips wafting out of his cauldron. He knew that he wasn't in love with Lily, because if he was, he would be smelling lilies. Maybe tulips were Darcy's favorite flower. He would have to ask her later.

Jane, like Lily could only smell things that she liked but she could smell a very strong scent of cologne. She just ignored it and decided not to think too much about the blasted potion. Just then the bell rang and it was time for arithmancy.

* * *

**At the library**

Lily stretched, sighing as the piles of textbooks around her seemed more like actual mountains to climb. Jane was thumbing through a book about Herbology and her eyes were steadily drooping lower and lower with each passing second. The ticking at the clock was like the ticking on a bomb and they were the only ones in the library, beside Alice who had long ago passed out in a pile of parchment and a river of ink had made it's way toward her, until Lily had used her wand to return the running ink back into its bottle. A new spell she learned five minutes before.

Right when Jane had started shifting in her seat, slumping in fatigue, Alice gave a sharp snore and Jane snapped up, taking a deep inhalation of breath and rubbing her eyes hard to get the stars starting to bundle in the edges of her vision to go away.

Merlin's beard, they were tired. They had studied perhaps a straight 5 hours, a few breaks to go to the loo, and a "healthy snack", before going back to quizzing one another and of course the off-topic discussions of boys: Declan Parish and Thomas Brown. Then again, the Marauder's not bullying them was worthy of note, and they carried on in peaceful silence. Jane suddenly spoke up, tired of reading.

"So, Lily, since we're both going to Slughorn's party, who are you going to bring?" Lily was so absorbed in her book that at first she didn't respond, but slowly she sighed and gave up, rubbing her temples and mumbling a "gonna be Parish please be Parish." Jane looked to Alice to help decipher her words but yes, she was so far gone that talking about boys hadn't roused her.

"I was thinking maybe Sirius would want to go. You two seemed like friends all of a sudden in Potions today." If Lily wasn't so busy yawning she would've leapt up and strangled Jane for suggesting such a thing so she countered with, "Yeah, and to top it off just to infuriate Sirius further, why don't you ask James even though he's taken and we can exchange partners? James with Sirius, and sorry Jane, you're a great girl but I guess just going as friends will have to do." Jane laughed, and she did agree that James and Sirius made a mighty fine couple. "Hmm, chances are if I finally get the guts to talk to Thomas Brown he'll accept. If not, I guess Lupin is nice." At that, Lily suddenly realized Lupin, out of the Marauder's, was INDEED the only acceptably nice boy who had not dated or been in a relationship, ever (Pettigrew was a strange exception to this). It was a wonder, and she wondered why no girl had claimed him yet. He was really a very nice person, never having succumbed to his douche noggins of a friends' suggestion to join in with the bullying. Lily wondered if there was anyone he fancied.

"Very true. Well, if Parish doesn't work out then I'll go alone. No trouble with that right? It's not like I have to bring anyone." Jane supposed that was alright, and anyhow bothering with it now wasn't going to do them any good. It was still a long while away.

They lapsed back into silence, and both of them did not mention their partnership with the other's worst enemy in Potions. Slughorn must've been laughing his way through organizing the seating chart. Lily decided to go back to the dormitories, and Jane said she needed to go patrol the halls so they cleaned up and went their separate ways.

There was some underlying tension between the two, something that lingered with them, maybe it was the fact Sirius had broken up with his girlfriend to most likely be with Jane, and James had practically confessed to fancying Lily even as he was in a relationship. Maybe it was the fact the Marauders had so suddenly taking such a liking to them, promising to change their ways, that the first day was simply heavenly in comparison to their past years, and the rush of appreciation was finally getting to them. Maybe it was the fact that despite having changed so much, their crushes were quietly on the sidelines when they needed the complete opposite, and their sudden obsession with looks and status had gone and interrupted their steady study life before. All this combined on the first day back to Hogwarts was tiresome, to say the least, and as Alice was dragged back to the waking world by Lily to go back to the girl's dormitories, Lily realized that she hadn't been this tired and worn out since...well, since ever.

Jane strolled the halls, alone, and sighed. So many thoughts ran through her head, none of which was related to coursework, and she felt kind of guilty. She crossed a sign calling for Quidditch signups and passed it, only to stop and go back, staring at the words. She actually wanted to try out. She hadn't felt that way for many years, due to her weight, but now she could do it. It would take her mind away from all the troubling thoughts and give her some fresh air and adventure to breathe. She smiled, and reminded herself to tell Lily this once she was off patrol.

Jane pondered Sirius's words earlier, back on the Hogwarts Express and in the Great Hall. He was such a pompous git, really, but some of the things he said made her heart stutter, and she HATED that, couldn't bear it. He was a horrible person, and if he thought a few nice words could turn her he was wrong. But she was flattered, as much as the other boys who had complimented her, but it meant a little more coming from the enemy. If he meant it, which he probably didn't. Then why was she so flustered? Her eyes were pretty, yeah, well so what? She was probably the only person in Hogwarts who had violet eyes, of course he would call them pretty. Her hair was nice, yeah. Somehow she had wandered into the girl's bathroom to examine herself in the mirror and stopped, horrified that she was so vain that she could be playing with her hair in the mirror when she was supposed to be on patrol. Damn it all. Was she so desperate that anyone who threw themselves at her could make her so...useless? No way, no way. She had to stop thinking that way if it was the last thing she would do.

Unaware, lying in bed with her eyes staring up at the ceiling, Lily was contemplating the same feelings. Except, she was worried why she hadn't felt anything yet, toward anyone. Not even the thought Declan Parish was making her heart skip a beat, because she knew this:

_Lily, your amortentia is just telling you that you haven't fallen in love with your soulmate yet._

_Jane, like Lily could only smell things that she liked but she could smell a very strong scent of cologne._

By the end of the night, both girls had come to a conclusion: no way were they going to end up with the Marauders, that was one thing for sure.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Review, follow or favorite :D Love you guys **


	11. Chapter 11

**Here's a lighter chapter for y'all before school starts for us, so enjoy :D**

* * *

**The week before Halloween…also Slughorn's Party...**

_We start this day like any other day in Hogwarts, except for one thing. Lily Evans has a devious plan, and being the genius mastermind behind the prank she knows she'll need a sidekick to carry it out. Fortunately, Jane is willing to do just that. What will Alice think, and will the Marauders be spared for the bloodbath of the century?_

* * *

Lily had been lying in bed the night before, contemplating her annoying git of a potions partner Sirius Black and his (apparently but not apparent to him) illicit relationship of sorts with James Matthew Potter. In fact, the notion of said relationship was so fantastically wrong in all the right ways that she knew, deep down in the dark parts of her heart, that she had to prank them. The secret of said plan lay in the magical effects of the Amortentia potion.

After a bout of crazed, evil cackling and hand-rubbing, Lily jumped out of bed and informed Jane and Alice of her plan. Here's how it was going to go:

"First, I've done some research, and I know that in the boy's dormitories every boy has a glass of water on their bedside table. Don't ask how I know this, it's just me eavesdropping on some stranger in the Great Hall. Okay, so, you've all heard about Sirius and James right? They are on the path of love, but all they need is a little nudge in the right direction. Just a little…bloop! *insert Lily shoving Alice forward into Jane* So, I've decided to play match-maker for my own amusement and make amortentia for them, put it in Sirius's glass of water, and once they wake up and see each other's faces, they will become madly obsessed with each other and discover an undying love for the other arse. What do you guys say?"

Not missing a beat, Alice raised her hand so fast she almost smacked Lily in the face with her enthusiasm.

"Evans, I know I've said this only once before, but you are a genius. I'd like a round of applause." Jane and Alice applauded, only to be violently shushed by other girls who were trying to sleep.

"I don't know...I mean, I think its a great idea getting back at them, it's bloody hilarious, but I think it's not setting a great example as Head Girl if you get found out, right? Plus I'm prefect and Quidditch tryouts are tomorrow so if they think it's me, I could get kicked off, IF I make it in to begin with. With that being said, I'm in. I've been dying to get back at the git." Lily pressed her fingertips to her forehead, her left shoulder, then her right, in a silent prayer for success, and saluted her brave soldiers.

"By tomorrow, I want you all to report here after Jane's tryouts to get the full report on our mission. Good luck, mates. May Merlin be with the poor sod who ends up with Sirius or James."

* * *

**Darcy's POV **

"Hey Darcy, do you like tulips?"

Darcy had stopped mid-makeout session to frown intensely at James, who looked genuinely curious on her preference of flowers. Sometimes she gave up on trying to understand what went on in her boyfriend's head.

"No. Why do you ask?" She ran a manicured hand through James's hair and he pondered deeply on her response. After a moment of silence, the moment having gone and died with the strange question, Darcy sighed and James sat down, looking very perplexed.

"Um...well it's got to do with amortentia and...well, never mind. Maybe I was just hallucinating. What do tulips smell like anyways?" James shrugged it off but Darcy was only more confused by his cryptic response. However, on the inside of James's heart, he was freaking the fuck out. So maybe it was Lily? He was wrong to assume Lily's favorite flower was lilies just because her name was, so if in FACT it was Lily. He definitely could not tell anyone this. Perhaps he was just a loon after all. Hell, he might as well do a school-wide survey on every girl's favorite flower.

"To be honest, I'm differential; I don't care that much for flowers, but I'd like tulips if you want me to, James. They're pretty, and I don't see what's wrong with them that make them any different from sunflowers or roses." Darcy had looked up at James intensely, watching for any change in expression. Reading people was easy if you knew what you were looking for.

There. James smiled, and Darcy's lip curled in amusement. His shoulders lifted, and he still seemed uneasy but more so back to normal. That was her gift after all. Reading people's ticks, and using them to her advantage.

"Yeah, I guess. Want to go back to class? Broom closets are kind of stuffy."

* * *

**Charlotte's POV**

"Hey, Charlotte." Remus Lupin sat down next to a very angry Charlotte Dawson, dark circles under her eyes and puffy lips from crying all yesterday, this morning, and in her first class of the day, Defense Against The Dark Arts. The only person who had come up to talk to her today was Lupin, and he wasn't even Sirius, so that didn't count.

"Want to talk?" Just that, and he meant it. Not just small talk, or THE talk (Sirius and their "break-up") but just talk.

"Yeah, yeah I want to talk. A lot." Charlotte huffed, and tried not to immediately start crying even when she planned to blurt out anything and everything that was on her mind.

"Did you know...did you know I know how to say 'pass the salt' in every language except German because no one told me how to? So in french it's 'passer le sal' and in spanish it's 'pasar la sal', and I realized that most of them sound similar. I don't know why though. I think it must have to do with root languages, something complicated like that. I think Sirius would know, but he's too busy making funny jokes to worry about me and my problems you know? I remember once I asked him how many types of walruses there were on earth and he said two because there were walruses with red hair like Lily Evans and walruses with blonde hair like Jane Mackenzie, and I didn't think it was funny but he started laughing really hard so I laughed really hard with him, because I didn't want him to think I was stupid, you know? I think he still thought so, because every day I would ask him to help me with arithmancy and he'd just told me to ask Darcy who ended up just giving me the answers, before I even asked her what my question was to begin with, and you know what just...just boils my blood? People using cheap makeup because it's bad for the skin and I heard people can get this muggle disease called 'rabies' that makes you look like bubbles are coming out of your mouth like babies maybe that's why its called rabies so why would people do it? Like why can't they just buy the good stuff that costs way more because it works? I heard they put a bunch of dodgy stuff in the cheap CRAP they call makeup to pass off as stuff you put on your face but you might as well be putting actual CRAP on your face and even I heard real crap is better than the crap they put in makeup. Do you understand?"

Lupin nodded. He patted Charlotte on the back and told her he also thought cheap makeup was horrendous and to add to that they probably tested it on poor animals like walruses who didn't know better, and at that Charlotte started sobbing and laughing and she was excused from class until she felt better. She did feel better, because at least one other person agreed with her and she didn't feel so bad about her problems anymore.

* * *

**Lily's POV**

"Amortentia, amortentia, amortentia…" Lily muttered to herself, gathering the necessary ingredients and her heart was doing a little jig imagining the looks on Sirius's face when he realized his heart-wrenching devotion to Potter's existence. She had to control herself, especially when Sirius was giving her odd looks while trying to talk to her about Jane.

* * *

"So how's Jane?"

"Ask her yourself."

"Jane is looking lovely today."

"Like always numbnuts."

"Does she like lavenders?"

"Again, ask her yourself."

"I bet her favorite color is purple."

"Mhm. It's red."

"Can you convince her to talk to me?"

"Nope. You do it."

"UGGGHHH EVANS HELP A GUY OUT."

"Too busy trying to ace classes. Talk to me later."

* * *

To be honest, Sirius looked like he was talking to a robot, so he must've decided to switch gears.

"What are you so busy doing? Making a love potion for yourself and James?"

"If you haven't already noticed, I wouldn't do such a thing if you paid me."

"Pshh, you so obviously are! You need an excuse to kiss him without Darcy hunting you down, don't you? How about I help you out."

Oh brilliant, absolutely bloody brilliant, Sirius was going to help make his own love potion with James. How could she refuse.

"Oh darn, you caught me red-handed, you filthy bastard. Stir clockwise while I add this, can you? Or is that too hard for you to do?"

"Very funny, but I'm a Black, so potioneering is in my blood, among other things."

"STD's?"

Sirius didn't need to be a muggle to know what that meant.

"You wish Evans, you wish. You and me could always have a go at it, since you'll be needing experience with James. I'm assuming no one has propositioned you, have they? Well, I volunteer."

"What happened to Jane? Or is she also another one of your pick-up and drop-off girls too? With how fast the business is booming you could be running a company, Mr. Black."

"Take a whiff and tell me what you think." Sirius asked, and Lily took a deep inhale. She smelled everything she liked, but still no tell-tale hint of the thing that attracts her. Oh well.

"Perfect. Now don't you dare move while I get a bottle to put this in or else I'll hex you into another dimension, you hear?" Lily kept an eye on Sirius who was admiring Jane bent over a cauldron, still as a statue. James went to reach for something and brushed against Jane's hand in the process, both of them pulling back immediately and James blushing. Sirius stiffened and inhaled deeply.

Lily couldn't tell whether or not he was getting protective over James or Jane. Maybe it was both.

"Just a question, do you have a thing with people whose name's sound like James? Like Jane might as well be the female name for James. Oh, you know what would sound great? James and Jane Potter. Now that's a power couple. Their child could be called JJ, because both their first names start wi-"

"Okay, okay I get it." Sirius poured in the potion into the bottle with renewed vigor. "But James is all yours. I don't want my beautiful Jane being handed away to some stranger in the halls." Lily rolled her eyes and labelled the bottle "Aphrodite's arse" making Sirius laugh.

"You are one strange girl Evans."

"Thanks for the compliment, git."

* * *

**Jane's POV**

"Break a leg, Mackenzie!" Alice called over her shoulder, and Jane laughed nervously, taking a few puffs of deep breaths before heading onto the Quidditch field.

There was a fair amount of boys and girls of all ages, all Gryffindor, and she had changed into the Gryffindor uniform beforehand, so very few people noticed her as she tied her hair back into a ponytail. The broom she had borrowed from Alice, who just happened to have bought it in Diagon Alley, and right now she was just excited and energized to be flying soon. For the first time.

After a brief demonstration from James Potter, (there was one open spot for Chasers, one for Seeker, and another for Beater) Jane was practically hopping back and forth with all the adrenaline she had flowing through her veins and they lined up to be evaluated. Teams were formed and James set them against each other to see who was best suited where on the field, rotating positions he thought belonged to certain people and writing down names he thought were note-worthy players. Other times though, the worst made him smack the clipboard against his forehead.

Jane had tried all positions, but she agreed she was the most solid as Chaser, after a short break was called. Already there were a few people in position of Seeker, and a handful of Beaters. Sirius had come over, and Jane braced herself (of course, of course, he's a Keeper for god's sake!) for the worst of the worst, probably a comment on her horrendous flying, but instead got the exact opposite.

"Oh hello darling, I didn't know you would be trying out." Sirius smiled his signature smile, tossing his hair out of his face, and resumed with a short monologue on how lovely she looked today, like she did everyday, and how her flying made angels sing from the heavens in praise. Jane wanted to bash his face in with a quaffle.

"You're a natural on a broom, absolutely marvelous. And I wouldn't lie about such a thing, I'm usually brutally honest. Just remember, now that the pressure's on to make it on the team, people will be attacking you from all sides to get the position like their lives are depending on it. Don't give it up to them, my Jane darling. You belong on the team, I can see how much you love and want it all over your face." Jane scrunched up her nose and growled, but Sirius had an overtly serious face on.

"Thanks for the awkward compliment, Sirius, but bugger off. I hardly care what your advice to me is, 'cus you can bet your arse I won't be listening to it, you pompous fool. Get that broomstick pulled out of your butthole for all it's worth. Just because you think you're so great at everything doesn't mean you can talk down to me like I'm nothing." Sirius spluttered at Jane's vicious response.

Pretty soon, another blow of the whistle signified a short warm-up practice before a scrimmage game, where James was busy making the final calls for who was on the team and who was off. It was pretty high pressure, and while Jane had been doing fairly well on her first time, she had to be up on her game if she was to get on the team. However, things quickly went downhill.

Maybe it was the pressure, maybe it was the first little mistake she made by continuously passing to the wrong person, by accident, but her focus was quickly diminishing and so were her chances of getting on the team. James had to yell at her to get herself together, almost falling off her broom in the process, before she finally got it. Even then, people had seen her as a target and whenever she held the quaffle it was open season to basically throw her off her broom, or have the beaters literally smash a bludger into her. Whether or not that was okay, she didn't know. At least she dodged decently.

"Oi, Mackenzie! Focus!" Jane sighed, and she tried to zone out everything and just on herself. That was Sirius alright, and now that she had TWO people yelling at her, least of all the people she hated most, she needed to really get back into it. She took rolled her shoulders and reminded herself to just have fun, and if she didn't make it on the team, at least she tried out and did her very best. She had to make every moment count, even just simply the exhilarating experience of flying, because it might be her last chance on the broom ever again, at this rate.

It worked. The last few minutes of the tryouts, in the dying light of the evening, was Jane's spotlight show. She scored 5 goals, helped 3 more, and flew like she never flew before. She enjoyed it so much she often caught herself laughing joyously, and people cheering her on from the sidelines (Lily? Is that you?). All she could remember was the feeling of scoring, and zooming through the air, and smiling. When she made the final goal with a wicked broom technique she improvised on the spot, helping her team win even though the other team's Seeker had caught the snitch early on in the game, Sirius cheered a "bravo, bravo!" and Jane simply rolled her eyes.

James blew the whistle and everyone dismounted and gathered in a circle around him.

"Alright, listen up! Here's the people who have gotten on the team, organized by position: Seeker is Andrew Smith, Chaser is Jane Mackenzie and Beater is John PCaradoc. Congratulations on making the team, losers." There was a chorus of cheers and claps and slaps on the back, and another chorus of groans and silent tears of rejection. Overall, it was the best day of Jane's life.

That was a understatement. When she heard her name, Jane's cry of "Yes!" could be heard across the field, maybe across the castle, and she felt like collapsing into the grass and laughing into oblivion she was so happy. Sirius was also clapping and laughing and whooping, but mostly for one person in particular. Even though she had been through a rough patch in the beginning of the tryout, she pulled it together, and Sirius had never seen a girl look so beautiful flying before, with Jane's infectious smile and golden hair whipping through the wind.

Jane was ready to leave but caught Sirius staring, sobering immediately. He looked away, blushing, and she bit her lip. The thoughts from nights before while she was on patrol duty, of Sirius changing and her mixed emotional reactions to that came back in full icy blast. She stalked off. Like hell she wanted to make a scene by actually punching him in the throat. Only the thought of what would happen later, the amortentia prank, and telling Lily and Alice about her making the team was going to be worth the price of skipping her good chance of strangling Sirius Black.

* * *

The moment was now.

A few minutes before dinner, the girls lingered by the entrance of the boys dormitory and waited until all of them left, making sure to keep themselves hidden, before sneaking in.

Their hearts were POUNDING against their chests as all three of them sneaked upstairs and with a small sigh of relief at finding out it was definitely empty, Lily using a charm to see if anyone was hiding in the room or some shit that might compromise their mission. With that done, they luckily found Sirius's bed and nightstand with not a glass of water, but a water bottle half-empty with his name on the cover, and without a further notice dumped the amortentia into the bottle, snickering furiously and Jane closed the cover and shook it with a deadly smile on her face to the mirth of Lily and Alice.

The Marauder's were in for a nasty surprise, that was for sure.

* * *

**OHHH~~~ Thanks for reading, all, and please review, follow or favorite. There's more chaos coming soon. :O**


	12. Author's note

Hello everyone, as summer comes to an end me and my co-author Moony are going to find it difficult to update the story as frequently as we are currently doing it. So we have come up with a new updating schedule that will allow us to update our story once a week, keep in mind that when midterms and finals and other things come around, we might not be able to update on those weeks. We will what try to update the story every Friday/Saturday so please check on those days :)

~Prongs

Hello everyone! So Prongs and I have been talking and we plan to make a time change to the story: which is the years the students are in, which will be changed from 7th year to 6th year, giving the characters 2 years to get to "renew their relationship" and that means the makeover will be the end of their 5th year, not 6th year. Be aware, this also means they are about 15 to 16 years old, so we'll try to keep any FUTURE romantic situations age appropriate. This story should continue until their last year, and will be split into two parts: year one and year two. We feel this way the characters have more room to naturally mature from their pasts and making the relationship believable is our top priority, especially in a situation this extreme where they go from bullying to falling in love. Thank you so much for your continued support and if you have any thoughts on this change, suggestions for future chapters, comments, queries, be sure to shoot us a PM and we will respond as soon as we can! With lots of love,

~Moony


	13. Chapter 12

**Here is THE chapter! Our school year has begun, and with that comes more spaced-out updates. We hope you like what we write so far, and check back every Friday or Saturday for new chapters. Thank you for reading, and enjoy!**

* * *

Dinner was uneventful as always, and the Marauder's were cheerfully unaware of their imminent doom waiting back in their dormitories. Lily and Jane ate with more enthusiasm than usual, a pumpkin juice toast by Alice who was overjoyed by the news that Jane had gotten on to the Quidditch team and the three girls were so happy nothing seemed to diminish their euphoric giddiness.

That is, until Sirius Black and James Potter strayed to their side of the table, followed by a small crowd of obnoxiously eager boys and Sirius demanded to woo Jane right in front of the whole of the Great Hall.

"Never before have I seen a better Quidditch player than Jane Mackenzie; this girl is a gift to the Gryffindor team! Watching you on a broom is electrifying. I underestimated you Jane, darling, you are exactly what the team needs. A natural." Sirius boasted, and Jane blushed.

"A true player born to be on a broom, I look forward to seeing you play in the future, Jane. You're a very talented Chaser, I never knew it would be in you. But I suppose you surprised us all with your techniques." James elbowed Sirius, who winked at Jane, and the small crowd of boys, many of whom she didn't even know, were congregating around the blonde girl, who on that night received more relationship invitations than she could fathom getting in one hundred years.

"Everybody loves a good-looking and star Quidditch player. And Prefect." Alice smiled secretly to Lily, who was calmly watching the mass of boys lessen and lessen with each refusal from Jane. She felt kind of bad for the boys, some of which were bashful to begin with, only to be rejected, and others who simply came to congratulate her even though she had never seen them.

"Thank you, that's very sweet of you, oh thanks!" She awkwardly waved everyone away, turned back to her friends, who simply burst out laughing at how red Jane's face was. "I feel like someone just stuck me in an oven to get baked. I'm so ashamed." Lily patted her back and reminded her that Thomas Brown was just waiting around the corner.

"I guess you'll be catching his attention soon enough. Then voila, there's your date to Slughorn's party and your boy-toy." Jane flushed and slapped Lily on the arm.

* * *

**Marauder's POV**

James had returned to his table, but his gaze lingered on a certain red-head, watching Lily laugh with her friends and smiling. She had a marvelous smile, James thought. It brightened up the entire room and those green eyes sparkled when she was happy. He was so consumed by his observation that a hand on his shoulder, Darcy's slender hand, snapped him out of his trance harshly.

"Are you alright? You've been acting very odd today…" Darcy's cool blue gaze was soft and worried, but James hoped beyond hope she didn't see him pretty much checking out Lily Evans. If there was one thing he was afraid of, it was making her upset. She was scary but in a lot of ways she had a motherly sort of care that made him feel guilty. James was in a deep denial with his feelings. One, Darcy was his pillar of support after his mum died. Sure, Sirius had been there for him, but that was until he broke up with Charlotte and James was too confused to talk to him about it. Darcy had pulled out all the stops and even though he knew she was just his girlfriend and nothing else, he kind of owed it to her to stay. If not, he would end up hurt. Darcy should've gone in Slytherin, she could intimidate anyone.

She was still waiting for an answer, and James had taken a while to answer.

"Eh? Oh, yeah I'm fine."

"It's Evans isn't it?"

James internally cringed. Here it comes.

"Huh, so she changed and now it's her looks isn't it? If you want to talk to her, that's fine. Go find the mudblood and have fun." Darcy got up and James held his head in his hands. This couldn't be happening right now.

"Darcy? Darcy where are you going?" ("Bless Remus's soul")

"Just going to talk to Charlotte. We have a lot of catching up to do." Sirius had frozen when he heard Darcy's voice and if anyone could pick up on Darcy's trouble tone, it was Sirius.

The Marauder's end of the table went from a sunny day in paradise to absolutely freezing cold. They all watched Darcy walk away to Charlotte, her wavy black triangle of hair bouncing with each step she took.

Sirius took one look at James and gulped. James had become very quiet, Remus itching to do something and Pettigrew just staring at Sirius and James in horrid confusion.

"So uh, I think it's time we go back to the dorms."

"I need a drink right now. Alcohol preferably." James was very pale.

"Oh come on, Potter, lighten up. She'll get over it."

"Pray she does, Sirius, pray she does. Or else I'm screwed."

* * *

"I'm gonna-"

"-go see Frank." Lily and Jane said at the same time.

Alice smiled and stuck out her tongue. Lily and Jane waved, giggling, as Alice left and blew them a kiss over her shoulder.

Dinner was over and Lily and Jane left together, smiles permanent fixtures on their faces and Jane had to split and go off on her evening patrol of the halls, bidding farewell to Lily who turned away and down the hall to the girl's dormitory.

Only to run into James Potter.

"Oh, sorry Potter." Lily had to bite her lip hard to not start laughing. "You should be going to your dormitory, or were you going to visit Darcy?"

"I need to ask you something." Lily paused and looked seriously at James who didn't even grace her with a proper response. "Do you like tulips?"

Lily opened her mouth, closed it, and then blinked furiously. "Yeeeessss…" she slowly drawled out, tentatively.

James's eyes blew up and Lily was scared for a moment. She slowly moved her hand to her wand to hex him but he breathed out a relieved sigh that sounded like a breathless laugh.

"Thank goodness. Thank you, thank you Lily." Lily looked frightened, and Sirius was barely containing his laughter where he was "hiding" behind a corner. Lily glared and wrenched herself from James's grip with more force necessary, but added: "Yeah, no problem freak. Tulips are my favorite flower, if you planning on sending me some to burn in a fire."

James swayed on the spot at the response and burst into a truly gleeful smile. Warmth spread over his chest and he waved and called a "good night and sweet dreams, Miss Evans. Think of me." James danced back to Sirius and the rest of the Marauders.

"She likes tulips. No, her favorite flowers are tulips."

"She probably thinks you were gonna play a prank on her, you blustering fool, going in like that. You need to work on being a smoother player James."

"Let's go back. I think it's time we do play a prank on them, though. Good ideas, Sirius."

They went back, and as planned, Sirius took a swig of the water in his bottle and fell into bed with a heavy sigh. James took a sip and capped his own bottle, but that wasn't yet the extent of their great fall.

Remus usually didn't drink from other people's bottles, but he had no idea where his bottle went and he was thirsty. He shrugged and took James's bottle ("less chance of contracting something that I could get from Sirius") and took three long gulps that emptied his bottle. James smacked Remus across the head, and then, for absolutely no reason whatsoever, Pettigrew thought it was okay to drink the remainder of Sirius's. They didn't feel anything. Yet. They all said goodnight and slept deeply.

That night James the dream again. It was about his mum.

When he woke up, he would expect to see her smiling face as she brushed his hair away from his face but he only saw the top of the canopy bed he slept in. He sighed and turned toward the left side of his bed.

To be greeted 2 centimeters away by Sirius's dreamy-eyed stare.

"James." If it was any other day, James might've yelped and fallen off the bed but he was suddenly swamped, literally mentally and physically, SWAMPED, by the need to curl up and cuddle Sirius like a cat. His entire being moved closer to Sirius's warmth, and he inhaled the smell of...body odor, but he liked it. He liked it a lot.

"Hmm...you're so warm Sirius." Sirius hummed and stroked James's hair slowly and thoughtfully, shoving his nose into James's soft brown hair and inhaling his scent. That wasn't all.

"Your hair is so soft, James, I just want to touch it all day long."

"I'd let you."

"..."

"I love your hair too, Sirius. It's soooo long and sexy. Just like your mysterious fucking eyes."

"Not as sexy as your hair, James. Your eyes make me melt into puddles of warmth."

"Everything about you Sirius is sooooo sexy. I can't believe I never saw how beautiful you were before."

"Me either, James, you're smoking HOT and every time girls look at you it makes me burn with jealousy. You're mine and only mine."

"Oh Sirius…"

"Let's get up, James. Breakfast is waiting for you. You need to be fed."

"But I want to stay here with you, Sirius."

Sirius dragged James out of the bed and hauled him into the bathroom, urging him to change and get downstairs. James never changed so fast before and he yanked open the door to be met with Sirius's face and James smiled dopily back. Sirius had apparently changed and they were latched at the hip as they stumbled down to breakfast. Remus joined them shortly afterwards, looking far more wild-looking than he usually looked. He took one look at Sirius and growled like a wolf.

"Get away from him, you bloody git." Sirius looked murderously at Lupin. "You wish, Moony. Get out of our way."

"Not until you let him go."

"Stop it Remus!" James pushed Lupin away and Remus looked hurt.

"James, have I told you lately how much I love you? I woke up this morning and Merlin, I realized I live every day to see your face, and I can't bare seeing you with anyone else, just come here." James looked appalled, and then Peter appeared.

More like he pounced like a lion on James and dug his nails into his skin, making him howl in pain, and Sirius threw a punch to Peter's face, ("NO ONE TOUCHES MY DEAR JAMES!") which made Remus throw a hex in Sirius's direction, ("SAYS YOU YOU BASTARD!") and James weeped in pain and fear as his dear Sirius was fighting Remus off, ("SIRIUS I LOVE DON'T GET HURT, STOP REMUS YOU'RE RUINING EVERYTHING!") so James yanked Remus off only to have Peter finish the job and lift Sirius up off bridal style, ("AHAH YOU'RE MINE SIRIUS") only to fall (Sirius was heavier than he looked) a look of manic glee in Peter's eyes as he toppled on top of Sirius with dreamy eyes.

"Oh Sirius, look where we are now. Let me love you." Sirius looked disgusted and then Peter kissed him, James screaming and yanking him off, ("NUHOOO!") James replacing Peter's lips with his and then Remus tackled James off ("NUHOOO!") to kiss James then was thrown off by Sirius who continued their earlier kiss.

_Let it be known that all of this transpired in a crowded hall, in front of none other but hundreds of shocked students, many weeping girls ("They're GAY?!",) Darcy Chester, who usually met the boys before breakfast, only to be greeted by pandemonium in return. She had a restless night and this, THIS, was exactly what she didn't need. She was doing good until James locked lips with Sirius and her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted into the arms of her clique. Somewhere in the distance, Charlotte was screaming and sobbing._

_Of course, this was going more than to plan with the girls, who had purposely maneuvered themselves in the shadows near the boys dormitory, a muting charm held over them as they cackled with tears of laughter and Lily was laughing so hard she was on the floor clutching her stomach, Jane's face was tinged dark red and Alice was breathless, unsure what to feel about poor Lupin and Pettigrew getting dragged into this but blimey, blimey it was a mighty good laugh._

Then there was the massive wooing contest.

"Oh Sirius, I would do anything for you!" -James

"Oh Sirius, just being next to you for the rest of my life would be enough for me!" -Peter

"Shut up, he's mine PETTIGREW!" -James

"AGH GET AWAY FROM SIRIUS YOU VERMIN!" -Peter

"Oh James, forget everything and marry me! We could leave everything behind just for each other!" -Sirius

"Oh James, I'd protect you and love you until we'd grow old together, your beauty deserves to be cherished until the end of time, don't let your heart be broken by a fool like Sirius!" -Remus

"This is getting too out of hand!" Lily turned, as McGonagall sweeped in like the heroine she was, flashing her wand this way and that, until the four boys were stuck in place, still thrashing and hissing at each other like bathed cats.

"Will you boys snap out of it?! What has gone into you four?" Remus growled again, this time at McGonagall, who gasped in horror, along with many a girl who had never seen Remus so much as glare in the wrong way at them, and she spluttered in shock. "Oh dear, Mr. Lupin, how preposterous! What a transformation! My oh...detention! All of you! You poor boy. Peter, don't you DARE make another face like that toward Mr. Black or all of you are to report to Dumbledore. This is OUTRAGEOUS!" Minerva McGonagall huffed in exasperation and magically dragged the four of them away from the crowd of shell-shocked and traumatized onlookers.

A few girls openly sobbed, Sirius's fanclub, and most of the boys who were caught in the traffic from dormitories to breakfast were trying to comfort them, like fisherman caught in a sea of fresh fish. Since now the Marauder's were now off limits. Some girls, were squealing and swooning ("Oh my god, that was so adorable! They were ready to risk their lives for each other! That's so sweet! Real love right there!") that the love...quadrangle of their conspiracy dreams had come true. Others, the skeptical ones, were already narrowing down a list of worthy opponents of the Marauder's who could have amortentia-ed them.

It was only a matter of time before the potion wore off and the Marauder's were going to come after them with a burning vengeance.

"Time to get out of here. Did you girls grab breakfast beforehand like I told you?" Lily asked her friends, Jane and Alice nodding back.

"Marvelous. Come along Jane." Alice waved goodbye and left for her class, looking back for some last laughs, and Lily and Jane made their way down to the dungeon. They were still giggling and walking away from the crowd when someone grabbed Jane's arm and separated her from Lily, who kept on walking.

"WHO-"

"Shhh…"

She looked up into the face of Thomas Brown, and her heart gave up and fainted like Darcy five minutes before.

"Uhh..."

"Heyyy sorry! I didn't mean to startle you. Jane Mackenzie right? Thomas Brown." He extended a hand and smiled so perfectly Jane had to press the pause button on her life and take a minute to weep in happiness.

"Uhh...uh Hi! Hi...Hi!"

Thomas laughed and Jane kicked herself hard. Good job Jane!

"Hi, hi, hi to you too, Jane. So I was wondering, um, would you like to hang out this weekend? I have a few friends coming with me to Hogsmeade, and your name came up. I don't know you very well, but I want to-" Jane zoned out after that. If she was staring into eyes, she didn't care, just that the words "hang out" and "I want to" ringing in her ears made her want to die on the spot.

Unreal. She barely knew him. They were going to hang out.

"So...do you want to?" ("Who gave him permission to be so charming? UGHH…") Jane was nodding slowly, thinking that nothing could possibly stop her from saying yes, so she did.

"Great!...erm...I guess that's-"

"Oh hey! Hey, um, so...I'm going to this party, like not NOW, but near Halloween I think? It's for Slughorn-"

"Oh yeah, I've heard of it."

"YeAH," Jane's voice cracked and Thomas laughed as Jane blushed like no tomorrow, with another awkward laugh she finished, "Iwasthinkingifyouwanttocanyoucomewithme?Totheparty?Likeasadate?Foronenight?" Thomas Brown's eyebrows shot up and Jane knew it, she blew it. She was given one chance at this in life and she blew it by being an overeager puppy instead of taking it slowly like most sane people did.

"Of course. Why not? I don't think I have anything planned that night. But if I do, I'll cancel it for a pretty girl like you." ("OhmygodOhmygodOhmygod")

"HEH, ehem, thanks! I-er-I...I didn't actually think you'd, like, say yes. But uh...wow, huh, I mean no one else would go, and I thought since like, you're a boy!" ("Merlin's beard, Jane Mackenzie, could you be any MORE awkward?")

"Yes, I am. But I'm sure any boy would've gone with you if you asked."

"Well, you're not like any b-BY THE WAY! Um, I'll tell you the details when I see you next weekend maybe? I hope I won't be intruding on anything right? We like, hah, don't know each other very well? But yeah...um...got to get to class?" Jane needed to get out of the same breathing space as her crush or else she was gonna get crushed by the impending storm of emotions that were short-circuiting her brain at the moment.

"Okay, I'll see you. Come meet us at the Leaky Cauldron then? Oh and congratulations on making the Quidditch team, Jane!" He walked away, and Jane said a quick "thanks and goodbye" to Thomas before calmly sprinting the hell out of there. Her legs gave out just as she made it to her seat in potions, and after sighing loudly, making a few people stare her way, (Lily, I'll tell you everything later…) she started laughing, slowly, but steadily gaining more and more volume as she remembered that James and Sirius weren't going to be in potions today.

* * *

_Here's a little summary of what happened that day._

_In the med bay, Darcy had recovered from her blackout and proceeded to cross a few beds down to where James was, bruised and battered from his beating from Peter, who vehemently apologized once he came to, but now back to normal, and slapped him across the face. Sirius chuckled, holding a bag of ice to a nasty bruise to his jaw and Remus simply glared at him, face still red after a long scolding from McGonagall followed by a few pitied pats on the back. A few minutes later, Sirius's fanclub crowded around with flowers and cards as if he had gone and died and weeped over his "coming out of the closet" proposal to James. James blushed and groaned, trying to suffocate himself with a pillow but only proving to hurt his bruises even more. The Marauder's missed a full day of classes, with only one day to make up two day's worth of coursework._

_Quidditch practice that day was cancelled for "obvious reasons" ("You are to attend detention for every day for the next two weeks, and no fooling around. Quidditch will have to stay on hold." McGonagall's words of doom made James and Sirius protest "MINNIE NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" at the same time.)_

_Lily, Jane and Alice agreed to never let the Marauder's live this day down in Hogwarts history. It was going to be their great fall, the darkest day, the worse moment of their short lives. If one thing was for sure, though, the girls could all agree._

"_**They deserved it, those pompous slimeballs."**_

* * *

**Alternatively called: "The Chapter where the girls get everything they want". Like always, please review, follow and favorite :D **


	14. Chapter 13

**Ohhh welcome back to another chapter of HTTAM! It's been kind of a hectic week, and writing was just not priority when the day was done, however here it is and for that, an extra long thank-you-for-staying note to our followers, and reading at all! JV ft. Marauders are planning for some future events for the girls (and boys) in our story and I am still in the process of editing the chapters with the wrong times and prefect stuff because I am a lazy ****ass. Apologies! That's our little update for now, please keep reading and enjoying and Chapter 13 for Halloween? Coincidence.**

**~Moony **

* * *

Halloween.

Jane waits outside the castle, huffing out white breaths and rubbing her arms with her mittened hands, waving as Alice and Lily walk past her towards Hogsmeade. The past few weeks had gone on pretty well, Jane attending her Quidditch practices religiously and even allowed the arrogant toerag Sirius to help her during one of the pre-game practices. Other than the fact it was hours of flirting and awkwardness. Luckily, Lily finally found a date for Slughorn's party with none other than Declan Parish and she was floating on cloud nine for days. After not being able to breathe when sitting around Declan, Lily finally got over her insecurities and they became friends. The girls had studied harder than ever, coursework building up like a small mountain and surprisingly they still had a social life left outside of acing exams.

Snow had started early in Hogwarts, and Jane liked the quiet beauty of the falling snow as she walked toward the Leaky Cauldron to meet Thomas Brown. Inside, the warm atmosphere was welcoming as she walked toward the table all the way in the back where he was laughing with some friends. When he spotted her, Thomas's eyes lit up and Jane blushed. She sat herself down, everyone introducing themselves happily to their newest acquaintance and Jane stuttered out a 'nice to meet you all' to everyone, unable to keep the heat away from her face. Thomas patted her on the back and ordered a butterbeer for her as they chatted.

It was mindless chatter, Jane gratefully mixing herself into the conversation and losing some of the stress school had been causing her. It was nice to just let go and interact with people without worrying about what people would think about her. Namely, it was nice to forget one "Sirius"-ly aggravating problem lately.

"So Jane, tell us about yourself. What caused you to make the... uh... the big change?" Thomas didn't skirt around the issue then, as eyes wandered toward her. They suddenly seemed bashful, as if mentioning who she was before was a sin.

Jane set her half-empty mug of butterbeer down, gulping hard. She had contemplated her reason many nights before, and she realized was happier after the change. It wasn't such a big deal anymore, it didn't plague her mind that she was 'too fat' 'too unassuming' 'too weak' day in and day out, and it didn't bother her now because now that she had exercised and practiced better eating habits, she looked unhealthy. Not only was she healthy, she was confident. She could play Quidditch. There was also the fact she could wear clothes she liked, and makeup, and not look garishly out-of-place.

"I felt like enough was enough. I was done with the people who constantly put me down, and I accepted the fact I wasn't going to change that unless I changed myself. But that's only part of it. I changed because it made me a whole new person, I felt more at ease with myself. I was happier. That was something I didn't really anticipate, but I guess that was a reason, too."

Thomas smiled like he heard a bit of a life-changing revelation , and if Jane could possibly remember one moment where she felt like she was falling, it was right now.

"Well here's to new beginnings!" Thomas raised his drink, and his friends cheered as they clinked glasses, Jane's chest was sluggish in the warmth and happiness she was overwhelmed with. "And to many more second chances, Jane Mackenzie." She lifted her cup and with all those eyes on her, she finally felt like she belonged somewhere.

"To new beginnings and second chances."

* * *

They talked and laughed for a good part of the afternoon, throwing snowballs at each other until Thomas surrendered to head back to the castle, but Jane never smiled so much in her entire laugh. Today was a day for many "never so much in her entire life" milestones, but when most of your years was spent in misery at Hogwarts then yes, yes it was a milestone. Jane giggled to herself and blushed, mumbling under the breath as she felt like she could literally do anything her body was overflowing with contentment. Not even Sirius Black could possibly put a dent in her mood.

"Heyyyyyy MACKENZIE! Over heeerrreeeeee…" Jane turned her head towards the source of the obnoxious noises and sure enough, Lily and Alice were armed with snowballs they aimed at Jane's face, spot on. She spluttered, and then stalked over to give them both a beating until she caught the look on their faces, one of which perfectly matched. Devious.

"Soooo, are you guys dating yet?"

Oh, so that was it. Stalking wasn't out of the question, then.

"How long have you guys been following me?"

"Since Frank decided to slip away from us, couldn't handle all the crazyyyy but hey who gives a damn nowadays, and Lily needed to stop spazzing about Declan for like 5 SECONDS after her sugar high from all the candy she ate at Honeydukes."

Lily humphed, and flipped her the finger. "Bugger off, Alice. You had your fair share of candy too and you wouldn't stop me from shoving my face so you shouldn't be talking."

"Yeah fine, can we just cut to the chase? Did he ask you out to be his girlfriend OR NOT?" Alice rubbed her palms together and Jane shook her head. Alice's face fell comically and she heaved a long drawn out sigh.

"Oh Jane, Jane my poor, lost and delicate soul. If it's any consolation, m'dear, he totally adores you. Take it from me." She grabbed Jane's wrist and led her back into Hogsmeade, "Which is why we're going to do the do. Right now."

"Wait, what?! OI, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU IMPLYING?!"

"Two words. Three syllables-"

"Not the 'guess the word before I drop the bomb' charades hints again…"

"Dress Shopping. You know what they say, bitches-"

"_shop 'til you drop._"

* * *

**5 minutes later. At 'Wicked Witch's Clothing Emporium'**

Slughorn's party was going to be tonight, and the girls' excited nerves kept them energized throughout the near 3 hours spent at the giant store, hunting for the right dress. Alice was their stylist, shaking her head this way and that at thousands of racks, tossing pieces of fabrics behind her into the poor arms of Jane and Lily. She helped them in the dressing rooms, zipping up and buttoning and commanding them to twirl until they were dizzy. She was the hunting dog for the right size and color and cut, her arms heavy-laden with hangers and somehow she ended up with pins in her mouth. Lily and Jane spent their idling moments exchanging funny tidbits about class, and opinions on the other's looks.

"I think that looks really good."

"The beading at the neckline is so pretty!"

"Ehh...not really feeling the umph on that."

"This feels wayyyy too tight."

"That LOOKS too tight. Can you even breathe in that?"

Off to the side, away from the omniscient eyes of Alice Prewett, was James and Sirius. They happened to catch sight of the girls walking into the store on the way to Zonko's joke shop and decided to detour and check out what they were doing. It was the best decision James and Sirius could have ever made.

"That skirt makes her bum look bloody marvelous."

"Ohh, I do fancy the beading on that one."

"Whoa no keep that on! It's just on the shy side of racy."

"Blimey, James, I didn't know Evans had boobs."

"You're not the only one, mate. You're bloody not the only one."

Like being caught in an enchantment, they couldn't help but roam closer toward the girls. There were a few close calls where somehow Sirius had strayed (somehow, Merlin knows) into the girl's underwear section. He swore he wa just following James a minute ago. Sirius didn't even know such things (bras) even existed on school grounds, much less in so many VARIETIES but "I guess a girl's got to do what a girl's got to do." Blushing 50 shades of shame, before he could get caught up in his own overly creative imagination involving girl's underwear, he was just about to leave when he was stopped by a young female employee with an overly cheery expression.

"Need something, sir?"

"Uh-uh-uh-uh no, no, I was just...not browsing, but looking for a…a… a friend! Tall, glasses?"

"Ohhh, she your girlfriend?" She sounded offended. Sirius had that effect on people. It was like they expected him to stay single forever.

Sirius forced a laugh and just patted her back, winking and then promptly making his leave to the far reaches of the Earth, otherwise known as James hiding his face with a 'Wicked Witch's monthly catalogue" book in hand.

"Where the bloody hell did you leave me?"

James chuckled.

"In paradise."

"Hah, well that was before some girl thought I was creeping."

"Exactly."

Sirius's mouth dropped open in a "I'm clearly offended by your words" way and James pointed and mouthed "look", his eyes following his finger to the very same employee helping Lily into a black dress, the sleeves hugging her shoulders and pleated on the front. The back was a plunging V-shaped cut. Paired with a emerald necklace, a thin green velvet belt and green flats, Lily looked really good. Sirius lifted an eyebrow and nodded.

"Not bad."

James wasn't listening. His heart was palpitating rapidly in his chest, and all he could think was: "She looks so beautiful." Sirius knew that James was a goner. For the past few weeks all he could talk about was Lily, and he could barely stop looking at her in the Great Hall. Even Sirius could agree that Darcy stood no chance against Lily. Even as he thought it, he knew he was right. Lily was charismatic in a subtle way; she had finally starting opening up in Potions and was a good person for advice whenever he needed to blow off some steam. However, they were still far from friends. If that were to happen, it would take much more time, but Sirius was patient. Looking at James so moony-eyed over Evans awoken something in him that had never stirred before. Hope.

Because not far away, Jane was in a light blue and periwinkle dress of satin, the material iridescent so it changed shades of color in the light. Jane was smiling widely, Alice adding diamond stud earrings to finish the look. Sirius had never seen someone so happy, so beautiful, than Jane Anne Mackenzie. Her violet eyes twinkled and shone like amethyst and Sirius was mesmerized by them, drawn like a lost sailor was drawn to a siren. He could not for his sake remember why he could ever have said all the horrible things he said to her. He knew that the him then was not the him now-he was trying now, working for it like his heart was dependent on Jane's very opinion of him. Sirius felt his heart clench painfully at the fact that despite how true his intentions were, Jane could never possibly forgive such a horrible person.

Lily put her hands on her hips and tilted her head to each side, scrutinizing her looks.

"Do you think Declan will like it?"

James sucked in a loud breath. Alice turned to Lily, rubbing her chin thoughtfully, and then snapped her fingers. "Yes. Just some light makeup and red lipstick, and you'll be good to go. Chic and sexy, Evans, chic and sexy. Good choice." Lily rolled her eyes, "It's Slughorn's party, Alice, not some private affair. I'm not going on a DATE! We're just being friends."

James felt a harsh slap across the face with the words, and Sirius was equally stunned. He had no idea Lily was dating Declan Parish, if she even was at all. And to Slughorn's party! Luckily he managed to wrangle Charlotte back for a few hours at most for the get-together but Lily just grabbing some boy to show off was totally unlike her. Maybe it was the fact that boy wasn't James and James was obligated to bring Darcy along, but he knew Parish and Parish was NOT the type of boy Lily Evans was interested in and Lily Evans surely could not be serious (no pun intended) in bringing along an arrogant sod like him.

"You might as well count it as one," Alice whirled to face Jane, dragging her over even though Jane was wearing magenta pumps, a strange choice but nonetheless complimented her well, strangely enough. Alice did have an eye for color.

"Okay, so what do you think, Lily: elegant but understated? It suits Jane well, right?" Lily flicked two thumbs up and nodded, Jane giggling and the sound resonating with Sirius's heart. "I really hope its not too obvious I tried hard for him. Thomas just knows that it's a party, and that he cancelled plans to go."

Sirius felt his stomach drop into the pits of hell.

Thomas Brown?! He remembered Thomas. Merlin, he was better than Brown, wayy better than Brown, and yet Jane chooses to be with him? What was up with that?

Boiling jealousy aside, Sirius deflated internally. How could he possibly think he was good enough for her when he had practically burnt her down year after year after year without two seconds of thought spent on the pain he must have caused her. He didn't deserve a second chance. She HATED him.

James quietly nudged Sirius, both giving each other dejected looks. They came to have fun and would leave with regret. James, because he didn't know how to break up with Charlotte and move on with Lily when she was already far ahead of him, and Sirius because he knew that he didn't stand a chance for forgiveness now that Jane was on the path to becoming Thomas Brown's girlfriend.

"Let's go, Padfoot. I think we're done here."

That was their situation, in every sense of the word.

* * *

**Next chapter is Slughorn's Dinner Party Bonanza. Strap into your seats, and get ready for the ride of your life *buckles seatbelt***

**Also, I need more Remus Lupin. It saddens me this story doesn't center around him, he is my favorite. I might even be considering a one-shot (jk) about Lupin and myself. I'd be his Moonette any day. In all siriusness, we'll put some more loony Moony into the next chapters because what would the world come to if our favorite werewolf was left off. **

**Oh yes, and of course as always, each of those who follow, favorite or review makes our hearts sing and soar into the forevers, but are not necessary. They ARE however, greatly appreciated. Thank you. xoxo**

**~Moony**


	15. Chapter 14

**OH MY GOD OH MY GOD I AM SO SORRY, SO SORRY READERS. THAT THIS IS LATE. ALL THE APOLOGIES (hands box of dried tears) take it, just take the box! School made me do it, I swear, please don't hurt me! Okay apologies aside, heres the chapter, voila its finally finished. It's not everything I wished it was, but let's say I hit writer's block right about smack dab in the middle of this monster of high expectations because planning for writing before writing doesn't happen for me yippeekayay****. Now, thank you letters: Lotsa references from the movie The Princess Diaries in the dinner scene if you know what I mean! So thank you Emilia Thermopolis for screwing up. The dinner party menu was taken from Martha's Stewart's website, thank you Martha Stewart for your help. This chapter was hella difficult but thanks to Prongs we have finished it. So thank you Prongs Dx. Finally, thank you readers for reading, keep doing that I guess. Although sometimes I wonder why you guys bother. Ohh and also, theres some Remus. Yay, please enjoy~**

**Mooneh**

* * *

_Goodbye_

_Should be sayin' that to you by now, shouldn't I?_

_Layin' down the law that I live by,_

_Though maybe next time_

_I've got a thick tongue,_

_Brimming with the words that go unsung_

_Simmer then the burn for a someone,_

_A wrong one_

_And I tell myself to let the story end,_

_My heart will rest in someone else's hand_

_My 'why not me?' philosophy began,_

_And I say_

_Ooh, how'm I gonna get over you?_

_I'll be alright, just not tonight_

_Someday, oh I wish you'd want me to stay_

_I'll be alright, just not tonight,_

_Someday_

~ "_Gonna Get Over You" by Sara Bareilles_

* * *

**Alice's POV**

Blasted barnacles, where in Merlin's beard was that mascara? She had it in her hand literally 5 seconds ago.

"Damn it." She yanked out the fifth hair pin that was hanging crooked in her long brown hair and ran a comb through it one more time with one hand, the other fumbling with another hairpin she violently stabbed a stray lock into place. Perfect.

Smiling and turning her head this way and that, she blinked rapidly at her reflection and added a quick flash of red over her top eyelids, leaving the mascara off in favor of a bold black eyeliner, adding a little wing to the end of each eye. She took a light blush and added it on to tone down the rest of her face. It was a small party after all, not some kind of film premiere.

Well...it didn't hurt to look red-carpet ready every once in a while. She felt like a cooped up bird in a cage, ready to spread her wings and FLY.

She took one last look in the mirror, admiring the wraparound scarlet red dress she wore, the sleeves made of soft silky taffeta. The top was emblazoned with small diamonds that glistened in the light, bright little stars on a backdrop of rich red. Below the mirror, the dress continued down into small train behind her, long and languorous like her hair. A long, thin gold necklace hung around her neck and she fiddled with it, flicking one half of her hair behind her head.

Now, shoes.

She got up and grabbed the stilettos near her bedside. Sitting down, she tucked her foot into the shoe, fit like it was made for a Cinderella movie, the pointy heel part jet black and the rest of it a nude color, a shiny leather black bow at the toe. She repeated the same movement on the other foot, and clicked to her full-length mirror without a single wobbling step. It felt like she was born in heels.

"LILY!"

The redhead zoomed by in a bathrobe, face covered in a lime green gunk and wet hair in a towel. She raised an eyebrow.

"Are you serious? Alice, what on EARTH are you wearing?!"

"Did you take my mascara?"

"Wha-what, no Alice, you can't possibly be-"

Lily faltered and sighed dramatically.

"-going to Slughorn's party."

Oh, the poor girl. It took her so long to realize. Even when Alice was a practical mess grooming herself before getting into her dress, Lily was busy nose-deep in some school text like it could possibly be more important than looking spectacular.

"I was sort of going to tell you, but I thought I'd leave it a surprise. You don't look surprised. I'm disappointed."

"Bloody purebloods, bloody RICH purebloods…" Lily mumbled under her breath, "what did you do, talk yourself into an invitation because Slughorn likes mingling with the well-known? You sneaky fox."

Smirking dangerously, she pressed her crimson lips together and placed her hands onto her hips.

"What do you THINK I did?"

Lily scowled like a drowned cat.

"I'm done. Absolutely done. Go, for all I care. Lord knows you are just aching to show off your inner diva." Alice stuck her tongue out as she brushed past Lily, whose tongue was already pointed out, to see how Jane was doing.

"And don't forget Frank, Lily. He's always the best person to show off."

* * *

**Jane's POV**

Jane was putting on the diamond studs Alice had gotten her from Wicked Witch's and she already had her iridescent blue-purple dress on, looking as natural in it as the moon in the night sky. She brushed her hair out of her eyes and gave herself a once-over, the clean application of pale blue eyeshadow and lip gloss satisfying her. She didn't want to look she was trying too hard, after all. Thomas was going to be there...after all.

Jane was suddenly sucked into a small panic attack. Thomas was going to be there, oh god, Thomas Brown in the flesh was going to be THERE, oh mother of pearl what had she gotten into?!

"JANE!"

Jane yelped and almost died from the shriek of her name from Alice, startling her into a mess and making her heart skip three beats. Jane gasped when she saw Alice, looking like a person who had stepped out of a fashion show, with how beautiful she looked. The dress she was wearing must have cost shiploads of galleons.

"Bloody hell, sorry 'bout that Mackenzie. You look hideously fab though. If I was Mr. Brown, I'd 'slyther' 'in' right into your bed." She ended her compliment with a cheesy wink.

"Uhh...thanks Alice." Jane sighed and looked horrified at the mirror. Her eyes reflected the nervous fear lurking in it's violet depths, the fear of something, anything going wrong. Her entire body was suddenly chilled to the bone. She was never this nervous for Quidditch, even her first game, but this, this was totally unexplored territory. The delicate friendship between her and Thomas could all but fall apart if she made one false move, one move that would give her away and reveal the girl who tried so hard to move on from her past. The broken girl.

"Oi, wakey wakey. Don't get focused on your face, you'll get hypnotized. Trust me, it's happened." Alice was checking her nails again, painted a devilishly dark wine red. Jane gulped and turned to get her velvet magenta pumps, slipping them on quietly and turning to Alice.

"Could I ask you something Alice? How do you act so...good at everything?"

"Who said I act? I'll pound their face into oblivion. Names, now."

"No, no like, when you're uncomfortable or nervous or sad or whatever, how do you…"

"Easy. I just think about how lucky I am to have two blessedly insane and useless friends such as you and Lily who need help with love so that I may guide you like a horse to water, and I think of Frank, because he always manages to make me smile, even when he's not next to me."

Jane laughed, and felt her heart squeeze at Alice's words. Sure, sometimes Alice was such a brash person once you got to know her, but she was kind, sweet and lovable to everyone around her, even strangers. It made her grateful to have her as a friend, how devoted and true she was even through their darkest day, not budging a single inch in favor of joining a more popular clique or even the blasted Marauders. Somehow, she had maintained her true self throughout all that and Jane had to respect how honest and brave Alice was, a through and through Gryffindor. The same went with Lily. Jane didn't know what she had done to possibly deserve two such brilliant people.

"Look at it this way Jane. You're brilliant, positively BRILLIANT, at school, and you're beautiful, and wonderful, and most especially YOU. I may have my pros, but you, you make me look like a parrot next to a peacock. Even though its only the male peacocks that look good. You see, everyone has their pros and cons. Everyone. Even you, and second-guessing yourself is just part of learning about who you are, and who you want to be."

Alice adjusted Jane's gradually slouching posture and tapped under her chin to keep her head up.

"Your choice begins tonight. Make it count, Mackenzie."

* * *

**Lily's POV**

2 more minutes.

Lily sighed and tugged on the lowcut V-neck of the black dress for the trillionth time like she had a mental disease. It wasn't ILLEGAL to show a little skin in Hogwarts, but in Lily's book, you might as well have been walking around butt-naked. The way the dress stopped half-thigh to slant towards her other leg, the cut making her feel even more exposed, even the back plunged half back, covered by her wavy red hair. She may have been a little more open to the idea of the dress back at Wicked Witch's but since she was nervous as all hell that Declan Parish was coming that she was tugging and pulling and yanking. The skinny green belt she wore was a nice contrast to the black and made her eyes pop, like the hazelnut eyeshadow she had picked out for herself. She even made time to paint her nails the same hue of red as Alice, though she hadn't known the purpose of Alice's playing dress-up until earlier, and now that she did she felt annoyance bubbling up inside her. Alice was going to RUIN her tonight, "slipping" lewd jokes anywhere she wanted to, until Lily was going to-

No, bad thoughts. It was all going to be FINE. If she just avoided Sirius and James like the plague and stayed close to Declan. Mingling.

Lily hurried slipped on the green flats, grabbing the emerald necklace on her bed and clasping it hurriedly as she hopped on one foot to put the other green flat on.

"HURRY UP EVANS OR ELSE I'LL CHOKE YOU!"

"Coming Ice Queen."

Alice rolled her eyes and pulled Lily out of the girl's dormitories, Lily spared one last look behind her before closing her eyes and praying beyond hope that tonight was not going to be THAT night.

* * *

**Slughorn's party**

When the girls arrived at Slughorn's nondescript location of secrecy there were a small huddle of people waiting outside a lavish party area, deep purple silk curtains hanging from the ceilings and floating green lanterns around the area, illuminating the people in a natural light. Servers were carrying around silver platters of snacks and everyone was chatting amongst themselves while soft music echoed around the space. Everyone was mostly dressed to impress, and of course waiting for them was the girl's dates for the night: Thomas Brown, Declan Parish, and Frank Longbottom. They all smiled happily at their partner when they arrived together.

Frank blushed when he saw Alice in her sweeping red dress and grinned jovially as she slipped an arm to his waist and leaned up to kiss his cheek.

"Impeccably dressed, as always." Frank murmured into her ear.

"I could say the same for you." Alice looked up into Frank's eyes and booped him on the nose.

Alice turned back and hummed in agreement, watching like a mother hen over her baby chicks as Jane nervously greeted Thomas, who laughed and patted her on the back, and Lily who was eying the crowd warily and clasped her hand in Parish's.

"Mother of pearl, Jane Mackenzie, you look lovely." Jane's violet eyes shimmered as she laughed and awkwardly thanked Thomas, tucking a blonde hair behind her ear and grinning despite herself. Alice felt like the cruel mother bird pushing her babies out of the nest forcefully, only to find them flying all by themselves without help.

Jane looked shocked when Thomas bent down and chastely pressed a kiss to her hand. But probably not as shocked as Alice.

"Chaarrrminnnggg…" Alice drawled out, and Thomas cocked a half-amused smile. Jane only gulped and turned away, willing the burning red blush on her cheeks to just go the hell away, god damn it!

Declan tapped Lily on the shoulder and murmured something into her ear, making her double over laughing and smacking him across the arm. Alice and Frank watched the scene unfold, and she sighed nostalgically.

"Reminds me of when you and me were that young and naive. Oh, how the woes of love transform us." Frank fought back a barking laugh at Alice's sudden change into romantic prose.

"Oi, lovebirds, over here I have something to tell you."

Lily and Jane separated from Thomas and Declan with a roll of their eyes and went over to see Alice. Alice waved them in closer, and she whispered something into their ears:

"Okay, so I know you two have been on diets lately. For tonight only, you two can gorge yourselves all you want. But that doesn't mean throwing everything I taught you out the window, it just means enjoy yourselves. Tonight is the ONLY exception. Now go on and have fun you two lousy lovebirds." Lily and Jane looked ecstatic and both simply opted for a simple "thank you ever so kind ice queen" in favor of squeezing the life out of Alice.

* * *

Around them were the rest of the people invited: Severus Snape and Pooja Patil, Sirius and Regulus Black, Charlotte, Darcy, James and Remus, Sybil Trelawney, Gilderoy Lockhart, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy and two other Ravenclaw girls: Diana Ross and Hailey Darwin.

Snape had a scowl etched into the lines of his face and Pooja Patil wasn't looking much better, arms crossed like she wished she could be anywhere else but there at Slughorn's demented dinner party. She had on an olive green sundress, a long gold chain necklace, and her usually waist-length hair done up in a bun. Sirius had just arrived in a dress suit, with Charlotte by his side in a strapless pale pink dress with a sequined cardigan. Darcy and James were next to arrive, her hand clutched possessively in James Potter's, also in a dress suit, her dress was a deep, royal blue, the material velvet and the sleeves hanging off her shoulders to contrast the pale length of her neck. Her wavy raven-black hair was pulled back in a jade barrette, away from her face. She wore a circular sapphire necklace right above her clavicle.

Near the fireplace there was Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy, standing around in stony silence judging everyone. Regulus Black was there too, which was a pleasant surprise to Sirius who hadn't seen his brother in ages, and prompted a tight hug from the two who looked very much alike. Remus Lupin had arrived later, looking absolutely dashing with a shy looking girl. In another area of the room was Sybil Trelawney, an eccentric girl with large spectacles and a look of wonder in her eyes, known throughout the castle as an absolute loon. She was in a heated argument over some matter of magical spells with Gilderoy Lockhart, an airhead git who claimed to know everything there was to know. They made quite a pair. Finally, there was the man of the evening: Slughorn, dressed in a three-piece suit and a companionable smile plastered on his face, shaking hands with everyone and laughing, a glass of wine in hand.

"Hmm...20 people! Merlin, well dinner won't be ready until a few more minutes: enjoy yourselves for a little more, mingle about, get to know each other. I'll be around." Slughorn ended his short little introduction to the 20 people who knew each other well enough, and disappeared.

There was a silence afterwards, everyone looking at the other, heated tension flowing through the air. Then just as suddenly, it was gone, and everyone was left dancing and talking to each other.

James and Sirius had lumps in their throat, watching Lily and Jane dancing with someone else, someone that wasn't them, making them laugh and smile and something viciously angry flowed through their veins at the thought. It was unfair.

On the other hand, Lily and Jane had zoned everyone out except for their partner. It didn't feel wrong to call them that, because they had spent quite a while in their company. Jane was slowly getting more used to Thomas's easy-going camaraderie, and Lily shared the same sarcastic and witty banter that Declan seemed to balance out easily with his blunt honesty and acute observations. They talked, laughed, tripped over each other, held hands, and made fun of each other as if they were all best friends.

Darcy had separated from James to observe Lily Evans with Charlotte, who was already crying without any sort of trigger. Being away from Sirius surely did a number on her, transforming her from the happy, bubbly girl to a fragile soul who pointed jabs like a butcher wielded a knife. But it was to defend herself from further heartbreak.

"Oh my, I'll be happy to get away from this disgusting place as fast as possible. The aiiiirrr...its just filled with meretricious hope. James can't even come clean with me and he couldn't be more obvious." Darcy tilted her head up, closing her eyes and relishing the feeling of control she had over him. "I'm waiting for the blade to drop, him to drop the silly act, and then I'll be a little more satisfied with things. At least he won't be looking like he's constipated all the time when he looks at her when around me."

"Is she...Jane?" Charlotte tearfully pointed to Jane, who was looking focused at something Thomas was telling her. Sad was the fact Charlotte had known the girl for 5 years, going on 6, and she still not being able to recognize her.

"Mm. It's a surprise isn't it? She dropped those ugly sweaters for something mildly attractive and I have to say, she deserves a round of applause. Too bad she's just fooling herself if she thinks she can just slip into a wolf's skin when she's still as innocent as a lamb." Darcy responded dryly, and Charlotte whimpered and sniffed loudly, wiping delicately at the side of her tearing eyes, puffy and red but mascara thankfully not running. Waterproof.

James was carefully distracting himself by talking to Remus, who was amicably talking to a Ravenclaw girl who was laughing loudly and was the only person dressed pretty casually, dressed in a black skirt, tights, combat boots and a Manchester United T-shirt, Diana Ross. Diana's short hair was dark brown with bright pink dye in some strands, and she wore a checkered headband and grey scarf. She had green-framed glasses that made her hazel eyes glow, and the girl was nothing short of hilarious and she was contrasted by another sharp-eyed Ravenclaw Hailey, who was quiet but seemed just as genuinely nice as Diana…

"James Potter, Hailey. Hailey, James Potter." Diana gestured from one person to another, before slipping straight into where she left off on werewolf lore. James stiffened, but Remus didn't seem to budge throughout the entirety of Diana's rambling, which was pretty long.

From across the room, Severus Snape was livid from the moment James arrived, barely concealing his boiling hate to the man from Pooja, who had simply sighed and slipped away to find someone else to talk with.

* * *

Finally, a small bell rang and one of the servants announced that dinner was served. They were led into a large dining area, a large brightly lit place with a giant chandelier and a long mahogany dining table with 15 chairs on each side and 2 at the ends, where candles and name placards were set at each cushy seat, each couple taking their respective places next to their card name. Declan pulled Lily's seat out for her and James clenched Darcy's so hard she flinched. Sirius felt a horrifying urge to strangle Thomas when he took his seat next to Jane, the unknown factor of what could be happening under that side of the table making him want to laugh tears of pain. Remus sat between Hailey and Diana, and the rest grimaced as they sat down. How Slughorn knew who was going with who was surprisingly not surprising in the least.

Horace Slughorn took his seat at the front, everyone standing up hesitantly, the backs of the chairs scraping against the floor making the god of "let's not make it awkward" wince and roll over in his early grave. Slughorn waved his hand good-naturedly, everyone once again taking their seats and the servants moving as one to set a bowl of light green soup in front of everyone, the initials _SC _for Slug Club written in white creme. Everyone was silent, hands poised over spoons.

"Uhh...well, go on and eat then."

Lights were dimmed as the clatter of silverware against porcelain signalled conversation, the soup was creamy and smooth, slightly spicy, sweet and flavorful as it bursted across everyone's tongues and was quite filling for a first appetizer. The Slughorn steadily making his way down the table for introductions and questioning and all was well. Until Jane tried to lift the name placard from the table and it caught fire from the candle, a split second of horror mixed with panic was all it took for the flame of the name card to spread to Thomas's sleeve, and Jane, in her panic, upended her icy glass of water onto his sleeve which elicited a sharp cry from Thomas and 19 pairs of eyes onto her. Including Slughorn.

"Goodness gracious, be careful there Jane." The servants went to retrieve a napkin from the kitchen and Jane furiously fought the urge to bury her head into a hole and never return to the world again. Thomas must've been more embarrassed by her, marvelous, just marvelous.

Sirius chuckled quietly at Jane and now that all attention was redirected to her (the prior interrogation was aimed at him and his "family" which he was not keen on spelling out to the rest of the people at the table) Slughorn focused his new strings of questions on Jane.

"Jane, is it true you've joined the Quidditch team? How has that been going for you?"

"How was your summer? Did you do any sports? Quidditch perhaps?

"How is your family? What have they been doing?"

"If you happen to know anyone of interest to me, don't be shy!"

"I see you've taken a dramatic change since last I saw of you."

"Is Thomas a new acquaintance?"

"Sirius here informs me that your Quidditch skills have much improved since you first started. But for a novice, that is quite impressive, is that not so?"

And so on so forth until the pressure was eased onto Thomas's shoulders, who was still blushing, not as much as Jane however, from the flaming sleeve.

After Thomas's turn, in which Slughorn practically grilled him on his life story and everything under the moon, they moved to Lily. Lily, who was always seemingly prepared to be grilled on any subject fired off answer after answer as if she was born to answer questions correctly, which she might've had. She informed, or rather re-informed, Slughorn on her status of Prefect, the status of her classes, the status of her home life and Petunia and her parent's change in jobs, and on the far side of the table sneers were felt, not seen, with looks of disgust.

Darcy at least covered up her lack of interest with a false look of caring on her face, the servants returning to clear away the soup bowls for the main course, braised chicken tarragon with sides of mashed potatoes and celeriac. Pooja opted for the butternut squash risotto, since she was vegetarian, but that was everyone else's meal.

The food was absolutely delicious. Everyone could barely hide their moans of satisfaction from each other, and Lily was so busy inhaling the food, after days of nothing but watching her diet, Lily choked, coughing furiously and her face turning red, Declan so horrified he choked too, and soon everyone was either paused in terror or amazement or confusion as Lily hacked and finally took a mighty breath of much-needed air. Slughorn saw this and laughed, "Aaaaaaaah Lily deary, you enjoying my food? You know, the caterer for this party is 'It's Magic' the owner of the restaurant was my student a couple years ago and he agrees to supply food for my parties every year." Lily mumbled a "very nice" to try to desperately escape the spotlight.

James couldn't decide what he felt most: overwhelming affection for the fact Lily Evans looked maybe a little cute coughing like her life depended on it or overwhelming hate that Declan Parish was now patting her gently on the back, that two-faced, worthless little dic-

James didn't know he had been clenching the glass cup of water in his hand until it shattered from the force, and he coughed awkwardly, blood running down his hand and he got up and left to clean it off. Darcy looked uncomfortable, but stayed where she was. Severus had a shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

"Ehhem, I have some business to attend to, excuse me for a moment." Slughorn left the group of diners at the table, a silence so thick not even a knife could cut through the tension that settled throughout the table when he left.

* * *

**Sirius's POV**

"Jane."

Jane looked up at Sirius, caught off guard so her eyes were bright and curious, and Sirius was struck dumb. He momentarily forgot what words were, and once he remembered he blurted out the first thing that was on his mind.

"You look lovely tonight."

Jane's mouth fell open, and then closed. All eyes turned toward him, and he felt himself, yes Sirius Black, getting embarrassed from the attention. Charlotte beside him started clenching the fork she had her hand around so hard her knuckles went white with the force.

"So…Thomas is a new acquaintance?"

Crap, shit, Sirius couldn't help himself, he knew he was digging himself a whole 6 feet deep and straight to hell with that question and sure enough, Jane whipped a glare so deadly, Sirius wished there was a rewind and edit function to his life.

"What does that matter to you?" Jane was suddenly ice cold, and Thomas was frozen in place, utterly lost. Alice was looking between the three, shaking her head minutely because Merlin's beard only knew that this stuff just didn't happen in real life, it happened in badly performed soap dramas.

"Since when did you hang out with...with…" Sirius didn't have a single bad thing about Thomas, he just barely knew him, but he managed, "THOSE types of people?" Jane narrowed her eyes in disbelief and Thomas too was glaring at him and shit shit shit so was Charlotte and maybe like 20 other people.

"What the HELL are you implying I am?" Thomas had stood up now, fuck, fuck he was so done for, so Sirius stood up too.

"You're...you don't deserve someone like her." Collective gasps. Charlotte threw her napkin down, catching fire (stupid goddamn candles) and without a single misstep left the room. Darcy, always a face of calm, looked unnerved, and dumped her water on the flaming napkin without taking her eyes off the mini war-zone.

"Sirius." Remus was looking warily between them, and his voice was all authority. "Stop."

He knew that, he knew exactly the mistake he was making because Jane looked hurt and angry and he didn't mean that, he meant HE deserved her but who was he kidding, he couldn't ever deserve her.

"We're not...we're...even if we were." Jane looked up, shock painted across her face, as Thomas stood up more furiously than before.

"Even if we were, you have NO RIGHT to talk to her...to me, about her, like that. If anyone doesn't deserve Jane, it'll be you."

Sirius slammed his fist down on the table, and then Lily went up like a bullet.

"Black. Sit the fuck down before I slice your throat into sushi."

"What the hell is going on here?" Gilderoy Lockhart cried out, and Sybil Trelawney looked enraptured by the action, her eyes glued to the tension ensuing at the other end of the table.

"My Inner Eye tells me there is some unrequited love to be reconciled. The night will not end well." Pooja ohh'ed and sat back, nodding her head in quiet comprehension. Severus, who was sitting beside her, scoffed, and stayed silent.

Jane was looking at the table, caught between hurt and happiness, Thomas having pretty much admitted to dating her now, but the fact Sirius had also pretty much admitted he fancied her made for some serious (the pun, the PUN) turmoil, and suddenly eating didn't seem like a great idea after all.

"I-I um...excuse me."

Jane made her quick escape, NOT setting anything on fire this time, and Thomas gave one glare made of hate directed toward Sirius before following Jane suit, and the food on the table lay forgotten in exchange for heated debate.

Lily went first.

"Sirius, you bloody fool. You great big BLOODY bag of shit. You couldn't at least leave it at 'I think you look lovely tonight?' No, you had to go on and ruin it. One step forward, three hundred thousand steps back. Bloody IDIOT."

"That would equal two hundred ninety nine hundred, nine hundred ninety nine steps back so…" Diana picked at the remaining pieces of chicken on her plate, Remus practically choking at her quiet comment, and Diana smiled mischieviously.

"Thank you Lily, thank you for helping me so much for stating the obvious, it's been loads of help. It's no use now, is it? I fucked up, and now all I got was them finally dating."

"Whoa hold up...HOLD THE FUCK UP." Lockhart looked like he was coming upon a revelation, but he wasn't the only one surprised to the point of silence. Lucius and Bellatrix, hell, even Regulus, had been quiet until then, but they knew by tomorrow the small fact Sirius Black fancied Jane Mackenzie would be blasting across school grounds in minutes. A Black, betraying his blood lineage in favor of a mudblood.

"You?! And...and Jane Mackenzie?! But...but you loathe her!" Pooja sighed and explained. "If you haven't noticed, Gilderoy, Jane Mackenzie practically isn't Jane Mackenzie anymore. She went from ghoul to goddess over the course of one summer. That's why Black is so enamored. It's no surprise anyways. I bet all you want is to get into her pants, right?"

"I wonder why you think so LOWLY of me, Miss Patil."

"Perhaps the fact you actually do want to get into a lot of girl's pants, and probably have, shouldn't count right? Ohhh my badddd…"

* * *

"Back!"

Everyone settled back down almost immediately once Slughorn returned, thankfully Charlotte not in tow, and plates were removed for the final course, dessert: chocolate coconut paddies, cookies covered with a sweet crust of chocolate and a flaky and crunchy inside of delicious coconut.

"Uhm mah gaw thes esh sho goo!" Alice commented, and everyone nodded back in agreement. Slughorn was elated at the fact that everyone enjoyed the food, but the fun wasn't over yet. As everyone finished devouring the warm cookies, Lily had clumsily dropped a fork onto the floor, and bent down to retrieve it.

Disastrous decision.

Declan stood up and went to excuse himself for the restroom, and without looking bumped right into Lily's back. Declan fell forward, face caught in surprise, and pushed a startled server flying forward past two empty seats with glasses of water toppling and dowsing Alice, Alice gasping in horror as her dress was drenched, and Frank hurriedly stood up to help her when his sleeve caught on fire and yelping, turned around with arm raised and Slughorn lifted his wand, the only one in the room with one, pointed and said: _aguamenti, _and immediately the flame went out, but Frank's sleeve was soaked. This all occurred within the span of five seconds.

James had returned, Charlotte by his side, and so was Jane and Thomas. They paused, confused, as Lily got up from under the table with fork in hand and face blazing red. Slughorn looked relatively unaffected, and apologized heartily for them missing dessert when James returned with his hand bandaged, Charlotte looking clearly like she had been crying, and Jane and Thomas still glaring daggers at Sirius.

Trelawney shook her head, mumbling "bad omens, bad omens" over and over again, and suddenly out of nowhere, Hailey Darwin burst out laughing. Not simply laughing, but doubled over, cracking up laughing, and soon followed was Gilderoy Lockhart, Regulus Black, Pooja, Remus, Diana, Sirius, Lily, Alice, Declan, and Frank.

The only ones not laughing, Severus, James, Charlotte, Darcy, Jane, Thomas, Lucius, Bellatrix and Trelawney simply watched blankly, and Slughorn laughed along heartily before patting his suit down, clearing his throat and checking his watch.

"Why, it is horribly late! I do believe it is time to go...It has been lovely to see and catch up with all of you today." The servants cleared out the tables and the students were ushered out of the room, "a great pleasure to see you all come, and I look forward to seeing you next time in Potions. Good night all! Be safe. I hope you enjoyed the meal."

A few stranglers stayed back to thank Slughorn for the meal, but most were eager to get the hell out of there as fast as possible. The first to disappear was probably the Slytherins, then Lockhart and Trelawney and Pooja, and then James and Darcy, Sirius and Charlotte, Remus and Diana. They all looked at each other with miserable acceptance at each other and weary surrender. Except for Remus.

"Aye, g'night mates." James whispered to Sirius and Remus, who nodded back and waved, and they parted ways. The last of the remaining happened to be the girls, the stranglers, and were praising Slughorn left and right until he was forcefully throwing them out.

"I'd love to talk more girls, but I think your men are waiting outside." Surely enough, they all blushed, and left with an enthusiastic good night to Slughorn.

* * *

**Lily's POV**

Declan had pulled Lily aside once they left the room, and pressing a finger to his lips, led her away from the rest of the girls. Into the main corridors, which was quiet.

Giggling, Lily looked at Declan with a smirk on her lips, "So, what's up?"

There was two, three beats of nothing, and Declan's smile wavered and he ran a hand through that perfectly tousled hair in frustration and impatience before beginning in a very quiet voice,

"Lily. I've been wanting to ask you something for a long time, and I think now's that time. Now or never, right?"

Oh.

Oh, my god.

"Lily Evans...will you go out with me?"

* * *

**Bam what?! CLIFFHANGER. I switched to Lily's POV at the last minute. I am feeling the need for some more James and Lily for next chapter, am I right? Well, now after this little bomb dropped yeah I think so. Anywho. Didja enjoy it? Didja hate it? Didja not care? Tell us what you think, or wait for next week to find out more.**

**This story is still a work in progress, and we literally appreciate any type of response we get (suggestions?). Thank you to those who have spent the time to do that, and to our readers, if only for a little while, thank you for reading. I enjoy writing it as much. Send us some messages, they're great, and we'll respond if we can. Because you know. School :(.**

**Thank you. From JV ft Marauders.**


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